Reveal and Feel
by The Professor of Fixing Things
Summary: When Anna and Elsa are reunited after the Great Thaw, they have to help each other through thirteen years' worth of pain and adjust to a new life together. However, hardships await, and they come in many forms. How will they help each other in the adventures of sisterhood? Kristanna. Elsa X male OC. Trigger Warning and Disclaimer within.
1. Chapter One: Together Again

**[TRIGGER WARNING: This story contains instances of depression, anxiety, PTSD, self-harm, and graphic portrayals of death and blood. I don't want anyone here to be triggered because of me. I shall label which chapter have what triggers as they come.]**

 **[DISCLAIMER: I don't own Frozen or its characters; they belong to Disney. I also don't own the songs and music referenced or used in this fanfiction; they belong to their designated owners. If I write lyrics to the tune of an existing song, the original song and its owner will be stated at the beginning of the chapter. I** ** _do_** **own any and all Original Characters, and ownership of them will be stated as they appear.]**

 **Thank you for reading.**

 _ **BOOK THE FIRST: REFLECTIONS AND SHADOWS**_

 ** _Chapter One: Together Again_**

 _Theme Song: His Theme by Toby Fox (acoustic guitar cover by Lq shinoda on YouTube)_

It was a beautiful afternoon. The courtyard had been iced over and made into an ice rink that the citizens of Arendelle were currently skating on. Snow fell all around them like many tiny, glittering diamonds even though it was the middle of summer.

Princess Anna looked over at her older sister where she was standing between the frozen fountains. Much had changed in the past few days, and it could be argued that most of the change was for the better. If Anna had been told a few days ago that her estranged older sister had magical powers over ice and snow, she probably would have not believed it at first—though something in her heart would have probably held the distant memory of magical nights spent frolicking in ice cold powder—but after recalling how cold it would always be in front of Elsa's door, it would start to sound more believable.

It could not be denied that the party after Elsa's coronation could have gone much more smoothly, but if things hadn't happened the way they had, the two sisters might not be starting to mend their relationship with each other. It also couldn't be denied that, as people say, "Stress shows character," and if all that stress and havoc hadn't been there, then the true motives of Prince Hans and the Duke of Weselton probably wouldn't have been revealed when they were, and thus, they would have had a better chance of causing serious harm.

Half walking, half staggering on the ice, Anna made her way over to her sister. Seeing her approach, Elsa quickly stretched out her arms and caught her beloved little sister before she could slip and fall at her feet. "I like the open gate," the princess commented with a smile.

"We are never closing them again," the queen reassured, causing Anna's smile to grow wider.

Needless to say, after being kept apart for thirteen years, the two sisters were now inseparable, and they did not leave each other's company for the rest of the day. When the day was drawing to a close and the people of Arendelle had departed for their homes after bidding goodnight to the royal sisters, the queen and princess entered the castle. Linked arm-in-arm, the two made their way down the halls until they came to Anna's room—once the room of both the sisters. Entering, the two sat on the princess's bed and proceeded to talk and catch up as the evening turned into night.

With the light of the nearly set sun streaming through the window of the room, the feathers of the colossal phoenix which was the sun gently brushed against the calm waves of the recently thawed fjord, and each sparkling droplet of liquid sapphire and gold could be seen through the warm glare of feather prints on the window panes. Streaming from the window, the resonating light shown on Anna's strawberry blonde hair, making her locks look like twin braided flames, and upon her green eyes, making them shine like jewels. The rays touched Elsa's single long braid as well, making it look like a cross of gold and ice, and on her blue eyes, making them practically glow as she commented with a smile, "I'd say that this day couldn't have ended more perfectly, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Anna agreed from where she sat on her bed with her knees tucked under her chin, "the rest of the day had some parts that weren't so perfect, sure, but like Mama and Papa always said, 'All's well that ends well,' right?" Elsa had told Anna about why they had been separated for all those years, and the younger sister had been very understanding… rather miffed at their parents, but as understanding as she could be.

Elsa's smile grew a fraction as she replied from her seat on the edge of the bed, "Quite right." Carefully taking her sister's hand in hers, she sighed, "I've missed you so much… my Sunshine."

"I've missed you, too…" the princess replied with a smile and a squeeze of her sister's hand before adding, "Snow Queen."

"Oh, please," the older sister quickly began with a wave of her free hand, "you of all people shouldn't have to address me by my title."

"But I think it sounds so cool, no pun intended," Anna argued as she swayed a bit from side to side in excitement. Elsa just giggled as her little sister continued, "The Snow Queen! It has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Elsa the Snow Queen of Arendelle!" Said queen openly laughed as Anna stated her full title with a deep dramatic voice.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Anna," she warmly chuckled while giving her hand another squeeze, trying to familiarize herself with physical contact again.

The young princess chuckled as well before nervously tucking her hair behind her ear with her free hand. "About that… I was… kinda wondering if you will… I dunno… move back into our old room with me like when we were kids… please?... I really miss you." At this point, Anna's face was nearly hidden by her knees. _She's going to say no. I know it,_ she thought to herself. _She's going to say no… but I just miss her so much and-_

"Of course I will."

The red headed princess did a double take as she raised her head up a bit higher. "Wait, what?"

"Of course I will move back into our old room again with you, Anna," the platinum blonde queen repeated with a smile. "When would you like me to move back in with you?" Though outwardly she was smiling, inwardly, Elsa was nervous, scared even. What if she accidentally hurt her sister again with her ice powers? What if Anna was killed permanently if she did? What if she was then accused of regicide by her people and dethroned? "What if?" after "What if?" ran through her head, but she was determined to fight thirteen years' worth of old bad habits to be with her sister again.

"As soon as possible, if that's okay with you," Anna replied with a beaming grin.

"Then I shall arrange for the servants to bring my bed and things back in here tomorrow," she stated while glancing at the clock, "it is quite late and I don't want to keep them up. Besides, it's time we both started getting ready to go to sleep." At that, the queen rose from her seat on the edge of the bed and released her sister's hand.

"What time is it?" Anna asked, watching her sister get up.

"Four in the morning."

"What?!"

Elsa laughed. "No, I'm only joking, it's ten forty-five."

"Wow," Anna softly exclaimed as she rose from her place as well and walked with her sister to the door. "The sun seems to be setting later and later, doesn't it?"

"Well, it is summer," Elsa explained, "with the hotter sun comes longer days."

Upon reaching the door to the princess's room, the two sisters faced each other. Before Elsa could even open her mouth to bid her sister good night, Anna had already enveloped her in a hug. The older sister was still getting used to physical contact again and felt rather awkward at first, but after a moment, she returned her little sister's embrace.

"I love you, Elsa."

Upon hearing this statement, Elsa fought back the tears and softly replied to her sister, "I love you, too, Anna." Even though they were starting over, the ice queen still felt deep pain and regret. She tried to keep her sister safe but only ended up hurting her. She froze Anna's heart for goodness sake! Yet here she was… saying that she loved her anyway. Elsa felt that she didn't deserve it. No. She _knew_ that she didn't deserve it. "Please, promise me something," the queen began while trying to disguise her voice so she wouldn't reveal her inner conflict.

"Okay," Anna replied, oblivious to her sister's inner turmoil.

"Promise me that you will be careful around me and my powers, alright? I'm doing all that I can to keep you safe, but it is only so much, I need you to be careful as well. Will you do that for me?"

"I'll try," Anna agreed.

"No, you won't try," Elsa corrected. "You _will_ be careful. Okay?"

"Okay, Elsa," the princess agreed again. "Anything for you." She began to realize that her sister was very serious. Was something wrong? Should she ask? Before she could decide, she felt a pair of cold lips press against the red hair on the side of her head and her sister's arms tightening around her shoulders.

"I love you very, very much, Anna. Don't you ever forget that," Elsa murmured into her sister's red hair while her brow furrowed with seriousness... and pain.

"I won't ever forget, Elsa. I love you, too."

After giving her little sister one last squeeze, Elsa pulled away and quickly donned a convincingly real smile—though it was only a mask. "I should go and let you get to sleep, I know that you aren't a morning person," she stated with a playful wink.

"I am a morning person!" Anna retorted, forgetting about the previous seriousness of their conversation. "Well, sort of a morning person. Morning person enough to get up on time."

"We'll see in the morning," the queen chuckled while opening the door and stepping through. "Goodnight, Anna," Elsa stated while looking back at her sister one more time with a loving smile.

"Night-night, Elsa," the princess replied with a smile of her own before closing the door again. Leaning her back against the door, she let out a deep sigh. Elsa was acting strangely serious.

Anna would have to talk to her about it tomorrow.


	2. Chapter Two: Anna's Thoughts

_**Chapter Two: Anna's Thoughts**_

 __ _Theme Song: Momento by Myuu_

Anna laid in bed with a bad bought of insomnia as the Northern Lights danced in the sky just outside her bedroom window. Apparently, staring at the ceiling couldn't help one get to sleep at all. What was keeping her awake? Anna would say that she was awake because the sky was awake. But it was in fact her excitement over how she and her sister would soon be sharing a room again like when they were kids that was keeping her up.

As the princess lay awake, the Northern Lights streamed in through the triangular window, shining their blueish green lights on the floor of the bedroom. The fire in the hearth, which was located in the corner of the room, shone softly in the dark as the light from its dying flames caressed the princess's blankets, as if lovingly smoothing them out.

 _Well, staring at the ceiling isn't going to help me,_ she thought to herself. _What should I do?_ Rolling over on her side, she took one of her pillows and hugged it to her chest and let her tired mind wander. Hugs… Warm hugs... Olaf… Snowman… Elsa. _I wonder… if Elsa would like to build a snowman?_ Anna pondered. _Welp, only one way to find out!_ Throwing back the blankets, Anna swung her legs over the side of the bed, and after slipping on her slippers, stood up. Unfortunately, being in bed was much warmer that being out of bed—as I'm sure many of you know—and the princess shivered from a cool draft. Striding over to her closet, she pulled out her robe and quickly threw it on. The purple robe was nice and warm and snug and reached all the way to the bottom of her green night gown.

Passing her clock on the way to the door, the princess noticed that it was around two in the morning. Very late indeed! Running a hand through her messy hair to try and even it out a bit, Anna slowly opened the door to her room, exited, and then carefully shut it behind her. The five year old inside her told her that she should make as little noise as possible so that she wouldn't be caught being up past her bedtime, whereas her commonsense just told her to be quiet so that the servants wouldn't wake up.

Wrapping her robe more tightly around herself, Anna crept down the vast hallways to her sister's room. The full summer moon shone through the windows, lighting the way. However, when she entered halls that didn't have windows, she simply had to let her eyes adjust to the darkness.

Finally, she rounded the corner that led to the queen's room. A faint flickering light shone from the crack under the door, probably from a candle or the fireplace. As she neared the door, she could hear the sound of someone talking, and quite angrily. _Who in the world would Elsa be talking to in her room at two in the morning?_ Anna thought to herself. Quickening her pace, she reached the door and hastily bent down to look through the key hole.

I know that I said in my bio that I would be updating anywhere from once every few weeks to once a month, but I have about ten chapters already written and I'm very excited to finally have a FanFiction account. So… we'll see how long my patience can last. :3

Please tell me what you think of the story thus far.

What was your favorite part so far? What was your least favorite part? What are your comments? Please let me know. Don't be shy, I don't bite. :-)

Thank you for reading and God bless you and your day.

Sincerely, The Professor.


	3. Chapter Three: The Mirror Complex

**[TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains instances of depression and anxiety (maybe PTSD) with dark and scary themes.]**

 _ **Chapter Three: The Mirror Complex**_

 _Theme Songs: Despair by Myuu, and Control (clean version) by Halsey_

Elsa was excited. She couldn't wait to share a room with her little sister again just like when they were children. She couldn't wait to actually have a relationship with her little sister again. All this excitement was making it hard to get to sleep. _Well, as long as I'm awake, I might as well do something useful,_ she thought to herself.

Getting out of bed and slipping on her slippers, she went over to her desk and lit the beeswax candle that was there with one of the matches that she kept in a small box in a drawer. Picking up a pair of spectacles, she carefully placed them on her nose before sitting down in her chair and observing the stack of documents that was piled on the left side of her desk.

Sighing, she licked her thumb and carefully picked up the document on the very top of the stack. Skimming the page, her eye was caught by four words: "Southern Isles," and "Prince Hans."

"Oh, boy," the ice queen sighed while pinching the bridge of her nose with her eyes screwed shut. Placing the document of trade off to the side, she opened another drawer and drew out a large piece of clean letter paper. Putting it neatly in front of her, she opened the lid of her ink well, picked up her feather pen, dipped the tip into the ink, carefully tapped off the excess, and began to write:

 _The 29_ _th_ _of July, in the Year of our LORD, 1839_

 _From Queen Elsa of Arendelle to the Benevolent King Viktor of the Southern Isles:_

 _Dear Sir, My Brother, Greetings!_

 _I am aware that you sent your youngest brother, Prince Hans, here to me to discuss trade between your kingdom and that of Arendelle. I would first like to inform you that he arrived safely. However, I am very sorry to report that his behavior has been-_

Oh, what should she say to get her point across without sounding rude?

 _However, I am very sorry to report that his behavior has been rather unacceptable, to put it politely._

 _When he arrived, he proceeded to flirt with my younger sister, the Beautiful Princess Anna, and gave her false hope of a romantic relationship. Having never had any suitors before and no previous contact with those of the male sex apart from my father, the late King of Arendelle, and a few servants, she did not know any better, and thus, reciprocated his flirts, and even accepted his ever hasty offer of marriage the same day that they met. Due to some complications, the details of which I won't burden you with, my sister became injured by magic—not, however, by your son—and only an act of true love could save her-_

Pausing for a moment, Elsa put down her pen to read what she had written. It didn't sound right. The part which read, "Due to some complications" and onward made her sound suspicious. The king would surely ask himself, _"What complications? How was Princess Anna injured by magic? Who injured her?"_

Retrieving a clean piece of paper, she began to rewrite the letter and changed what she had to.

 _-the same day that they met._

 _In order to fully explain to you the full extent of the wrong that Prince Hans has done, I first must make a confession:_

 _For as long as I can remember, I have had the magical ability to create, control, and manipulate ice and snow. That being said, I beg your royal Highness to please not classify me as a monster or a witch because of it, for the possession of this power is not of my choice or even that of my parents, but, as far as I know, it is the choice of our ever wise and benevolent God, Whose hand has created us with all our differences and powers, whether they are magical or not._

 _When I was a child, I had an accident while playing with my younger sister, accidentally striking her in the head with ice.-_

The queen proceeded to tell the story of what happened in the last two days and thirteen years. As she did so, the minute hand of the clock quickly made its journey around the face of time, from one o' clock to about ten 'till two.

 _-After Prince Hans' failed attempt to assassinate both my sister and myself, he was caught and apprehended. My guards are currently keeping a vigilant watch over him and will continue to do so until he is safely in your courts once again._

 _I would like to further state that my anger is not towards your royal self or the Southern Isles, but towards Prince Hans and him alone. In addition, I have forgiven him, but he will not be allowed anywhere within my kingdom from this moment forward. If he is found herein, he will be arrested and sent back to you with the utmost speed as healthily as he was found._

 _Because of his treacherous motives, it is my duty, first and foremost as a sister and second as Queen, to say that trade between our kingdoms must cease as soon as this letter reaches your hand, for no matter what precautions we may take in either of our harbors to ensure his containment within your borders, I will not take any risk of Prince Hans entering my kingdom by stealth for fear of my younger sister's safety. Furthermore, I humbly wish to reassure your Royal Highness that though trade between our kingdoms must cease and though Prince Hans attempted regicide and I am returning him to you bound and under watch of my guards, I must tell you in earnest that I do not and never shall desire war or strife of any sort between us and our peoples, but instead, I yearn for peace, and meekly beg that it may continue between the Southern Isles and Arendelle._

 _From one elder sibling to another, I deeply hope that you understand my reasoning and choices and that you desire the safety of our younger siblings and the peace between our kingdoms as fervently as I myself do._

 _God save your Royal Highness!_

 _Signed, Your Sister, Queen Elsa of Arendelle, Farewell._

Elsa thought it strange that royalty of different kingdoms addressed each other as "brother" or "sister" if they weren't even related, but her father told her that this was important and showed that you respected the person being addressed, so therefore she did it. She didn't want to be rude or even worse, cause a war.

Placing the letter on the empty right side of her desk, she made a mental note to have it sealed and sent in the morning. Taking off her spectacles, she put them on the desk as well before burying her face in her hands and letting out a deep sigh. Writing that letter proved to be rather emotionally difficult for Elsa seeing as how she had to remind herself of all that she made Anna go through for thirteen years. "The king's going to think I'm a monster," she thought aloud not noticing the temperature of the room starting to drop a bit as the candle flickered, struggling to remain alight.

Rising from her seat, she walked around her room simply to give herself something to do as she quietly sang under her breath,

"They send me away to find them a fortune,

A chest filled with diamonds and gold.

The house was awake with shadows and monsters,

The hallways, they echoed and groaned." She gazed nervously at the white and blue door which separated herself from the outside world for so many years, then towards her opened hands, clenching and unclenching them as she paced.

"I sat alone, in bed till the morning,

I'm crying, 'They're coming for me!'

And I tried to hold, these secrets inside me.

My mind's like a deadly disease." The queen remembered how her parents had summoned many doctors to try and figure out what was wrong with her. It was torture how they all treated her like some sort of emotionless automaton and not an actual human, and the secrets… it was horrible trying to conceal herself for so long.

"I'm bigger than my body,

I'm colder than this home,

I'm meaner than my demons,

I'm bigger than these bones.

And all the kids cried out,

'Please, stop, you're scaring me!'

I can't help this awful energy.

Gosh darn right, you should be scared of me.

Who is in control?" Remembering the look of horror on her parents' faces when she accidentally struck Anna and had called out for help… brought back so much pain. Elsa grabbed her hair in the sorrow, frustration, fear…and anger that the memory brought.

"I paced around for hours on empty,

I jumped at the slightest of sounds,

And I couldn't stand the person inside me,

I turned all the mirrors around." She had done all of this before. Night coming. Thinking. Overthinking. Pacing. Self-loathing. Trying to cry. Failing to cry. Shattering. Sleeping. Waking up. Facing the day. Repeat… repeat… repeat… and repeat. And simply looking at her own reflection in the mirror while doing so was of no help.

"I'm bigger than my body,

I'm colder than this home,

I'm meaner than my demons,

I'm bigger than these bones.

And all the kids cried out,

'Please, stop, you're scaring me!'

I can't help this awful energy.

Gosh darn right, you should be scared of me.

Who is in control?" After those in the post-coronation ball had witnessed her release of power, they all looked at her with such fear… she even thought she saw Anna look at her with fear. The one who she was trying to protect with every fiber of her being and every breath she took… was afraid of her.

"I'm well acquainted with villains that live in my bed.

They beg me to write them so they'll never die when I'm dead.

And I've grown familiar with villains that live in my head.

They beg me to write them so I'll never die when I'm dead." Pausing in her pacing, she looked over to her bookshelves, and recognized the cover of her diary. Since her monsters had moved from under her bed to live inside her head, she recorded her chaotic fears and thoughts in the little blank book as a way of silently screaming and crying for help.

"I'm bigger than my body,

I'm colder than this home,

I'm meaner than my demons,

I'm bigger than these bones." By now, the same tormenting phrase was cycling through the queen's head over and over and over agin: _Anna was scared of me. Anna was scared of me. Anna was scared of me._

"And all the kids cried out,

'Please, stop, you're scaring me!'

I can't help this awful energy.

Gosh darn right, you should be scared of me.

Who is in control?" _Anna is scared of me. Anna is scared of me. Anna is scared of me._

" _ **And all the kids cried out,**_

' _ **Please, stop, you're scaring me!'**_

 _ **I can't help this awful energy!**_

 _ **Gosh darn right, you should be scared of me!**_

 _ **Who is in control?!"**_

Stopping in front of her mirror, Elsa proceeded to talk to herself, as she had grown accustom to doing in the thirteen years of isolation since she couldn't be with Anna. "Elsa, of course the king will see you as a monster, and he's probably not the only one who does. People are scared of what they don't understand. They will never understand you. He might think you're a monster and declare war because he thinks that everything is your fault and not Hans'. And it will be all your fault. Look at you, you're such a failure. Mama and Papa must be so ashamed of you right now. Even they were scared of you and your powers. You're nothing but a freak and a disappointment. You disappointed Anna so many times when she needed you but you had locked yourself away! And she's grown scared of you, too. You idiot! You worthless fool! You pathetic lump of flesh! How can you both share a room if you've hurt her this much and might hurt her again?!" she began to raise her voice as she glared daggers at her reflection.

Suddenly, her expression switched from angry to sorrowful, as if splitting personalities. "Please," she whimpered, "leave me alone, or at least let me cry."

Anger entered the blue eyes in the mirror as the reflection replied, with a small dry laugh, "We both know that that will never happen, Elsa. I will make you suffer… I will _**kill you**_ … and I will be sure to time your death so that your precious little sister is watching so that I can latch onto her and take her next."

Suddenly, Elsa shouted, **"Don't touch her!"** _**CRASH!**_ Elsa's outstretched hand trembled as snowflakes hung suspended in the air. Shuddered breathes escaped her lips as she stared in shock at the long, large icicles lodged deep within the mirror and into the wall close behind it. "I…" she shuddered, "I _**won't**_ let you touch her!"

 _Knock, knock, knock!_ "Elsa! Are you alright?!" came the concerned sound of Anna's voice from the other side of the door.

"Go away, Anna!" the queen replied out of habit before even thinking.

There was silence for a few moments, and Elsa was worried that Anna had actually left before her sister's voice was heard again, this time more stern, " _ **No.**_ " Before the ice queen could even protest, the door to her room was already open and Anna—dear, sweet, innocent Anna—stood just inside her room.

Hi!

Dark enough for ya?

Don't worry, the chapters won't always be as short as the last one was.

Please leave a review and let me know what you thought.

God bless you and your day.

Sincerely, The Professor.


	4. Chapter Four: What the Princess Heard

**[TRIGGER WARNING: Still a little bit of depression and PTSD in this chapter, but not as much as the last one.]**

 _ **Chapter Four: What the Princess Heard**_

 _Theme Song: Tender Remains by Myuu_

Eyes wide and mouth open in shock, Anna surveyed her sister's room. Snowflakes were held suspended in the air, large icicles were impaling a mirror and part of the wall, pieces of said mirror lay shattered on the floor like caltrops, and Elsa… she stood in the center of it all shaking with fear… of what her sister was thinking.

"I… I heard voices," Anna awkwardly began. "Who were you talking to?"

"N-Nobody," the queen replied while holding her hands close to her chest.

"So you were… just talking to yourself?" the strawberry blonde asked while taking a careful step forward.

"Uh, yes," the blonde confirmed while taking two steps back, "I… was talking to myself." Well, it wasn't entirely a lie.

Noticing her sister stepping away, Anna decided to stay where she was for a moment so that Elsa wouldn't feel crowded. She remembered what happened in the ice palace, not out of fear, but out of worry for her sister. "You sounded angry with yourself," she added, her brow furrowed in concern. "Were you? Mad at yourself, I mean."

Elsa opened her mouth to reply, but hesitated. The automatic lie of "No, I wasn't" caught in her throat. How could she lie to her little sister again?

Seeing her sister hesitate, Anna interrupted the queen's train of thought, "Elsa, you promised no more closed doors. That includes the door in your heart. Please, tell me the truth… all of it."

Taking in a deep breath, Elsa closed her eyes and nodded vigorously as she wrapped her arms tightly around herself. She wanted to cry so much, but the tears just wouldn't come! Why wouldn't they come!? _Why won't my damned demons just go to hell!?_

"You _were_ mad at yourself?"

More vigorous nodding.

Silence…

"Why?"

More silence…

"Everything…"

"Wh… what do you mean, 'everything'?" Anna questioned, wanting to understand what was wrong so that she could at least try to help her big sister. What had happened since that evening to make Elsa so upset? She seemed rather happy earlier.

"I…" the queen began with a shudder as the air began to grow just a touch chillier, "I'm the one responsible for all the problems in our lives. Freezing your head, locking you out, freezing your heart, everything." Bowing her head and beginning to stoop over with an unearthly heaviness, the queen didn't have the emotional strength to say anymore.

Seeing her big sister in such a distraught state, Anna began to quickly reach out to her sister to embrace her, but quickly stopped herself, remembering how Elsa had taken a few steps back earlier. "Elsa?" she began with concern, "What can I do to help you?"

Choosing to answer first with actions, Elsa drew away from her beloved sister with her arms wrapped around herself with fear. "Stay away from me," she choked out in reply. "Please, I don't want to hurt you again." Backing further away towards the corner of the room, Elsa murmured to herself, "This is all my fault." Ice began to crawl up the walls as her fear, self-hatred, and hopelessness increased. "Stupid, Elsa," she whispered as she slid to the floor, hugging her knees, "this is all your fault."

It was not intended for Anna to hear her, but she was heard nonetheless. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Just that afternoon, Elsa had freely hugged her without any sign of fear, only love and relief. But now it seemed as if they were going to go right back to closed doors again. _No!_ the princess shouted in her head. _I've waited too long and fought too hard to be with my sister again. I will_ _ **not**_ _stand by and watch this chance to start again go down the drain! I refuse to!_ With this resolve, the younger sister began to reassure the other woman as calmly as she could while she knelt down so their eyes were level with each other, "Elsa, it wasn't your fault. True, they are _your_ ice powers, but _I_ was the one who pushed you to use them in the first place, and it _was_ our parents' idea to separate us. Sooo, I guess all four of us are equally responsible for what happened in the last two days… and thirteen years."

"But I'm the older sister," Elsa countered. "I'm supposed to be the responsible one."

Sighing in slight impatience, Anna's heart went out to her sister as she was filled with determination. "Elsa," she calmly began again with a loving smile as she inched forward, "do you know why I'm not hugging you right now?"

"Because you're scared of me?" the Snow Queen guessed.

"No," the princess corrected. "Because I know that you're scared of _yourself_. So much so, that if I were to touch you, that it would just make things worse. Right?"

The queen nodded in shame.

"So, that's why I haven't touched you even though everything inside of me is telling me to hug you to make everything better," Anna clarified as she slowly sat up against the wall near her sister. "Not because I'm scared of you, but because I _love_ you. No matter who's responsible for the past thirteen years or not, I love you, and I will _always_ love you, and… love will always thaw."

The ice queen's shoulders shook as she began to sob, the tears slowly starting to come to her eyes. She didn't deserve her sister's love at all, and yet she was given it freely. Oh, what she would do to protect her sister from pain… like her own pain. "I-I lov-ve you t-too, A-Anna," she sobbed, the tears finally streaming down her face. "Can…" she hiccupped as the wind blew wildly around her, "can you please help me?" Elsa _desperately_ wanted and needed a hug from her sister, but she was so afraid of herself that she didn't dare. Awkwardly resting a hand on the cold wooden floor between them, half of her hoped that her sister would grasp it, and the other half was terrified _of that very hand._

"Of course I'll help you," Anna reassured her. "I admit, I don't entirely understand everything that makes you upset, but I will still help you in any way that I can." Finally noticing Elsa's hand and sensing how it awkwardly laid there, the princess asked, "Would you like me to hold your hand?"

The queen just whimpered quietly as she gave a pleading look over her knees and she inched her hand a little closer. _Yes…_ the selfish side of her silently begged, _please…. I need you._

Reading the older sister's body language as a yes, Anna slowly took the hand in her own and gave it a squeeze. As she did so, the wind died down and the ice on the walls and floor began to disappear ever so slowly. "Is there anything else that I can do to help you, Elsa?"

"Can you please stay with me tonight?" came the whispered request. "I don't want to be alone."

The request was a bit of a surprise to Anna, as well as a relief. For what felt like forever, she thought that her sister wanted nothing to do with her, and now Elsa was asking if she would stay and keep her company. On top of that, she desperately hoped that this was proof of all the doors staying open. "O-of course I'll stay with you, Elsa," the princess's voice broke in reply as she held her sister's hand more tightly, tears beginning to spill from her own eyes. Seeing her big sister—her _hero_ —in so much pain pierced her heart and hurt it much more than the ice from before; and after hearing her say such dark, scary, and fearful words… it practically broke it. "Come on, Elsa, let's get to bed," Anna murmured, "its half past two."

Nodding in compliance, Elsa stood up with her sister as the ice and snow continued to slowly melt. Making their way over to the bed, Elsa gave her little sister's hand a squeeze in a thank you, and after removing their slippers, they both crawled underneath the covers. Laying side by side, they faced each other as the temperature of the room remained on the slightly uncomfortably cold side. "So…" the queen anxiously began as she started to hide her face under the blankets in shame, "h-how much did you hear?"

"I think I heard all of it, or at least most of it. I started listening when you mentioned Mama and Papa," the princess honestly replied.

"Did you hear the last part?"

" _Especially_ the last part."

More tears began to flow from Elsa's eyes as she sobbed into the blanket in fear and shame, her voice breaking and snowflakes falling onto the bed, "P-Please, don't be scared of me!"

"Oh, Elsa…" Anna sighed sadly as she took her sister's face in both her hands, forcing eye contact, tears and all, "I'm not scared _of_ you, I'm scared _for_ you."

"You don't think I'm a monster? Or a White Witch?" the ice queen asked as she timidly sunk further into the blankets.

"You are no monster, and you are no Jadis," Anna answered while wiping Elsa's tears away with her thumbs and understanding the Narnia reference. "You are my sister, and you are my queen… White Witch? No. But Snow Queen? Yes." She smiled at her—albeit sadly—and carefully stroked a loose strand of blonde hair out of the drying path of tears. "I love you, Elsa. And no matter what you say or what you do… I will _always_ love you." At that, she placed a tender kiss on her sister's forehead. "Please don't cry, Elsa," Anna whispered against her blonde bangs. "Please, for my sake, please don't cry."

"Okay, I'll try and stop…" Elsa replied before noticing Anna involuntarily shiver. "Are you cold, Anna?" she asked as she wiped her eyes.

"A-A little," the princess replied with a small shudder.

Sitting up, the Snow Queen stretched out her hands, and after taking a deep breath, used her love for her sister to dissipate all of the snow and ice, including the icicles that were still lodged in the mirror and wall, and the ice that still clung to the wall where they were talking a short while ago. "Are you warmer now?" the queen asked as she watched her little sister sit up as well, the temperature in the room beginning to return to normal once more.

"Yeah, thanks, Elsa," Anna replied with a warm smile as she slowly and cautiously leaned her head against her older sister's shoulder.

Elsa stiffened ever so slightly in surprise at the unexpected contact, but tried to force herself to relax. Giving a small smile in return, Elsa placed a gentle kiss on her little sister's brow before lovingly nuzzling her messy yet beautiful strawberry blonde hair. "Lucy was always my favorite character," the queen suddenly commented.

"Who?" Anna asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.

"Lucy Pevensie, from Narnia," Elsa elaborated. "She was always my favorite character because she reminded me so much of you." She chuckled lightly and pressed another affectionate kiss to the side of Anna's head.

Being very tired, the princess let her rambled response stay in her mind, and instead settled for a smile.

"I love you, Anna," the Snow Queen whispered with a sad smile. "Thank you so much for being my little sister. I love you so, so much."

"You're welcome, Elsa. I love you…" the princess was interrupted by a yawn, "too."

The older sister's smile widened. _I have forgotten how adorable Anna is when she's tired,_ she thought. _Looks like neither of us are going to be waking up early at all seeing as how late it is._ "You tired, Anna?"

"Mmhmm."

"Me, too. Let's get to sleep."

Complying, Anna laid down again, and Elsa snuggled down underneath the covers as well.

"Um, Anna?" the older sister whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Can… Would it be alright if we… cuddled?" Elsa timidly asked. It had been so long since she had cuddled with anyone or since she had had that much physical contact, long enough to make her feel nervous, uncomfortable, and even scared about this, but, as strange as it sounded, she wanted physical contact again. She wanted touch again. She wanted to have her hand held and remember what it felt like to intertwine her cold fingers with the warm ones of someone she trusted. She wanted to be cuddled and held securely in the arms of a loved one as she drifted off to sleep and not have to worry about facing her nightmares alone anymore. She wanted to be hugged again; to be reassured, not with words, but with loving arms enveloped gently and protectively around her that everything was going to be okay. But what she wanted more than to receive those things was to give those things, and most of all, she wanted to receive those things from her sister and _give them_ to her sister again.

There was so much that she—no, that they _both_ had missed out on while growing up that they had once taken for granted. One of them grasping the other's had before dragging them off on a potential adventure. One of them being cuddled by the other after a nightmare. Both of them sharing a warm hug to comfort and be comforted by each other as they dealt with their individual problems and insecurities. Neither of them had had any of that from each other for the past thirteen years of their lives… and that lack of contact hurt them both _so much_.

In the twenty-first century, doctors and scientists have discovered that when one human gently touches another—whether with a hug, a kiss, holding hands, cuddling, a pat on the back, or etc.—it causes the brain to release the chemical oxytocin, which is the chemical that relates to trust, safety, and love, and helps drive away pain, stress, anxiety, and fear while supporting their immune system. It is also important to note that those who don't have much physical contact with others while growing up are more prone to violence and crime, so the fact that Elsa hadn't deliberately tried to hurt anyone yet—excluding the attack from Weselton's men, for that was self-defense—was both a shock and a relief.

It is astonishing how something as simple as an innocent touch between sisters—something as simple as hugs and kisses good-morning and goodnight, or a teasing nudge of the shoulder, or a playful tickle—could be so biologically important, and it is equally astonishing how something so important could be taken for granted.

Elsa didn't _want_ physical contact with her little sister, she _needed_ physical contact with her little sister, and Anna didn't _want_ touch from her big sister, she _needed_ touch from her big sister… just as much as Elsa needed it.

Anna simply nodded with a smile at Elsa's request to cuddle before sliding one arm underneath the pillows and draping the other arm around the older sibling's waist while scooting a bit closer. Elsa wrapped one arm around her sister and kept the other one close to herself out of fear caution as she inched a little bit closer as well. Pulling the blankets further over them, Anna pulled her sister even closer, close enough to rest her chin on the other's head. Elsa pressed the side of her head against the younger sister's collar bone, then feeling a little braver, she sought out Anna's heartbeat. _Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump..._ Upon finding it, the queen smiled peacefully to herself. _There it is._ The sound of Anna's heart beating steadily within her chest calmed her and reassured her that her precious little sister was alive and well… and not a statue of ice.

Anna wrapped her arms around her big sister's shoulders, one hand pressed between her shoulder blades and the other slowly stroking her long blonde hair. The physical contact reassured her that this wasn't a dream; that she was actually hugging Elsa and not a pillow like she had been every night for the past thirteen years. "Night-night, Elsa," she whispered before slowly and sleepily peppering kisses on the top of the older sibling's head.

"Goodnight, Anna," the Snow Queen murmured in return.

After a few minutes, Elsa fell asleep, and when the princess both heard and felt her sister's calm, rhythmic breathing, she began to gently comb her fingers loosely through the long and unbraided platinum blonde hair while still trailing kisses across equally blonde bangs. _Oh, Elsa. What am I going to do with you?_ With new tears of worry and pain stinging her eyes and blurring her already sleepy vision, Anna too started to fall asleep… but only after a silent prayer of, _Heaven help us._

Despite her pain and worry, however, when sleep finally claimed the princess, she had a smile on her face, and why?

Because she had her sister back.

X

I hope you liked the chapter.

Please tell me what you think in the review box below.

God bless you and your day.

Sincerely, The Professor.


	5. Chapter Five: Tears and Braided Hair

_**Chapter Five: Tears and Braided Hair**_

 _Theme Song: What Could Have Been by Myuu_

Several hours later, a single beam of sunlight streamed through the small space between the mostly closed curtains of Elsa's bedroom window. The light sliced through the darkness of the room like a hot knife through butter, and landed on the floor of the hall just outside the bedroom door—which both sisters had forgotten to close the night before, being so tired.

Scurrying rather quickly down the hallways towards this same bedroom was Kai, the butler. He had gone, as usual, to Anna's room to wake her—knowing that she wasn't a morning person and wouldn't wake up on her own otherwise—only to find that the princess was missing! He had to inform the queen of this immediately so that a search party could be organized. However, when the chubby man rounded the corner towards the queen's room, he saw the thin trail of light which came from her window. Seeing this, he slowed his pace down to a slow and cautious walk. It was not like Elsa to just leave the door to her room wide open. Upon reaching the door, he carefully peeked inside, and what he saw warmed his heart.

Both sisters were sound asleep, laying so that they were facing each other with their arms wrapped around one another. Each sibling had a peaceful and contented smile on their faces as they slept… Well, Anna was _sort of_ smiling. Her mouth hung open as she snored and drool trickled out of her mouth. As they slept, Elsa still had her head pressed against her sister's chest to hear the beating proof of life within, whereas Anna's fingers were still woven through her older sister's hair.

Kai smiled warmly at the two. Having watched them both grow up, he was glad that the sorrowful era of closed doors was over and that the relationship between the two sisters was on the mend. He was only the butler, but it broke his heart to see the two princesses whom he served be so depressed and broken.

Suddenly, his eye was caught by something that was out of place and that certainly didn't belong in a queen's bedchambers: broken glass. _Where did that come from?_ He asked himself with a furrowed brow. Looking about the room, he noticed the shattered mirror and his eyebrows shot up and his eyes became as wide as saucers. He didn't believe in the superstition of "seven years bad luck", but he was upset that there was a dangerous mess in the queen's room—you never know when one'll step on a shard of mercury covered glass and get infected and poisoned. How on _earth_ did _that_ happen?! _What on earth happened last night?!_ He questioned no one while looking back and forth between the two sleeping sisters and the broken glass, and wondered if he should clean it up himself… No, he wasn't exactly the stealthiest of the staff, and he didn't have a broom or dustpan with him. Besides, he didn't want to wake up the queen and princess. Deciding that he would send one of the maids up to take care of it, he closed the door to the room as quietly as he could and left.

It wasn't as quietly as he had hoped, because not a moment or two later, Elsa woke up. I am sure that some of you have experienced that blissful moment when you wake up, but your eyes don't open at the same time. Isn't it wonderful? Anyways, Elsa woke up, but her eyes remained closed, and at first she couldn't remember anything about the night before. Then her memories came flooding back to her when she felt someone next to her shift in their sleep; the argument with her reflection, the heart-to-heart talk with her sister, and finally going to sleep holding each other safely. Hearing her little sister snoring, Elsa smiled and opened her eyes.

Anna was quite the sight. Her strawberry blonde hair was sticking out in all directions and a strand of hair was in her mouth, out of which ran a trail of drool. Taking the hem of her sleeve in her hand, Elsa carefully wiped the corner of her little sister's mouth and removed the strand of hair. The sleeping princess let out an annoyed groan as her brow furrowed and she tried to cover her face with her arm. Elsa chuckled before hoisting herself up so that she was leaning on one arm, and began to gently stroke her sister's messy hair to try and smooth it out. She regretted agreeing to their parents' idea of being separated from her little sister. She regretted it so much. Though she knew it would be tricky seeing as how she was now a queen, she wanted, no, _**needed**_ to make up for the lost time.

The constant motion of Elsa's hand running through Anna's hair slowly began to wake her up. "Good morning, sleepy princess," Elsa teased as the redhead opened her eyes with a smile.

"Morning," Anna greeted in return before reaching up and holding her sister's hand against her head. "You feeling better than you were last night?" she asked with a yawn.

"Yes, I am," the elder sister replied. "Thank you, Anna… I… don't know what I would've done had you not knocked when you did." Oh, she _knew_ what she would've done alright! She just didn't want her little sister to know what exactly that was.

"You're welcome, Elsa. You would've done the same for me." Anna held her sister's hand in both of her own and sleepily closed her eyes once more, not going to sleep, but still feeling sleep _y_. As she relished the feeling of actual physical contact with her sister, she thought back to the previous night… and as she thought, she began to slowly frown.

Noticing this, the older sister spoke up, "Is something wrong, Anna?"

"Do…" the princess paused as she opened her eyes once more, half scared of her sister's response, and half worried _for_ her sister, "do you… _often_ talk to yourself like… _that?_ "

Realizing what her younger sister was talking about, the Snow Queen turned her head away as she tried to think of an answer that would be honest without frightening Anna.

"Elsa," the redhead began more seriously as she sat up, letting her sister's hand slide from her head but still keeping a tight hold of it, "when did you first start talking to yourself like that?"

Letting out a sigh of defeat, the queen replied slowly, "I started talking to myself _as a way of keeping my own company_ about a year after we were separated… I started talking to myself _like that_ … about three years after we were separated."

Being very, _very_ scared for her big sister, Anna brought a hand to her mouth in sheer shock. She had been talking to herself in such a frightening way for _that long?!_ "Why on earth did you start doing that?!" the princess demanded, half angry, half scared.

"It was late at night, and I was sitting on the edge of my bed… missing you and feeling very lonely," the queen began with a wince at Anna's tone as she sat up all the way so that her legs were crossed and looking straight ahead at the shattered mirror. The temperature of the room began to drop once more as she continued, "I didn't want to be alone, so I started talking to myself… At first I just asked myself things along the lines of, 'Why am I cursed with these powers? Why can't I learn to control them? Will I ever see Anna again? Why did this have to happen to me?'" Pausing, she chanced a glance at her little sister, Anna appeared to be frightened but somewhat calm at the same time, listening attentively to the queen's story. "Eventually," Elsa continued with little white clouds forming outside her mouth with every breath of air that she took, "I started replying to myself while looking in the mirror, 'It was all your fault. They are trying to lock you up like an animal… like a monster. Like the monster that you are. That's what you are, Elsa. Nothing but a monster.'" Covering her face with her hands, she leaned her elbows on her knees. Snowflakes began to fall out of nowhere and a sudden wind started to twirl them around her like a small cyclone as ice slowly crawled over the bed and floor. The Snow Queen nervously whimpered out, "A-And… I don't know exactly how it happened or why it's happening, but the replies started getting darker and darker… Now it feels like my reflection and I... are two separate entities. It's like she is my demon… She knows what I am the most afraid of, and… she uses it against me… yet the words are coming out of _my mouth_ and I am consciously choosing the words… And it terrifies me so much that I cannot tell the difference between her and myself… as if we are the same person." After letting out a shuddered breath—almost a sob—Elsa grabbed her messy blonde hair in her fists. Ice shot up the walls, the wind picked up speed, and she suddenly growled out, "She just won't _go to_ _Hell_ and _leave me_ _**alone!**_ " Rocking forward and backward, she tried to hold back her sobs, but was having trouble. The purple ice covered the floor, door, window, ceiling, and bed, leaving the two women locked in an ice capsule.

With some difficulty, the princess managed to get out from under the ice coated blankets. Anna then hurriedly rose to her knees and wrapped her arms tightly around her sister from behind, one arm around her shoulders and the other around her waist. With her chin resting on the Snow Queen's shoulder and her eyes tightly closed against the bitter wind, she began to rock her sister from side to side more gently than the blonde was previously doing. For several moments, she just held her tightly without saying a word as Elsa began to sob and the snow devil continued to twirl and spin rapidly. The Snow Queen was glad that Anna couldn't see her face at that moment because she didn't want to appear weak; she was supposed to be the strong big sister. She most likely still appeared weak, but at least her tears would be mostly out of view.

After a long while, Anna finally stated above the wind, "You aren't one and the same, Elsa. You are you, and any voice that tells you that you are a monster, or an idiot, or an animal, or a witch, or anything else bad, is a liar… even if it's your voice." Taking in a shuddered breath, the princess continued as the sound of the wind grew louder and her voice began to break, "Elsa, you are not a demon. You are my sister, and I love you very, very, very much. You locked yourself in your room for years to keep me safe, I see that now. But what _you_ don't know is that I would rather marry Hans— _marry that jerk face_ —than see you in pain either." Finally, a tear escaped her left eye as she paused for a moment, thinking of what she should do next to attempt to comfort her sister. "Elsie," she began, using one of her sister's childhood nicknames, "you know what I see when I look at you?"

The queen she shook her head in a "no".

"I see my awesome hero, my amazing queen, and my beautiful big sister gifted with snow and ice powers." She gave the back of Elsa's head a kiss and the harsh wind quickly died down a lot. With the wind being all but a whisper, Anna murmured into Elsa's hair, "Don't you ever listen to what she says to you, okay? Because I won't stand by and let my sister and best friend be bullied by anyone. I love you, Elsa. I don't think I say it enough, but I hope you know that you'll _never_ know just how much I love you… if that even makes sense."

Taking some courage as well as comfort from the princess's words, the Snow Queen smiled through her tears and held onto her sister's hands. "I love you, too, Anna," she murmured before sniffling and willing some of the snow around them to melt.

Anna felt her hands grow a touch chillier as her sister held them, but she didn't complain; her sister needed her, and if help Elsa meant that her hands would freeze, then so be it.

"Are you cold?" the queen suddenly asked, moving her hands off of her sister's and bringing them closer to her chest.

"Only a little bit, but I'm fine," the princess replied, wondering why her sister let go of her hands. She needed to reassure her that everything was alright.

"Anna," Elsa began as she slowly stretched out her shaking hands, "can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, Elsa. What do you want me to do?"

"Please, hold me more tightly."

The redhead did exactly that as she murmured, "It's okay, Elsa… I've got you." The Snow Queen then took a deep breath as she used her love for Anna to make the snow and ice melt into nothing. Since the thick ice was not covering the window anymore, the light that streamed through the parting of the curtains was able to slice through the darkness once more.

Anna smiled as she whispered, "I knew you could do it."

"Anna," the queen began in a murmur as she repositioned herself to return the tight hug, "what did I ever do to deserve such a wonderful sister like you?"

"I could ask you the same question," Anna replied as she buried her face in the shoulder of the older sibling's nightgown. "Are you feeling better now?" she asked, though her voice was a bit muffled by the cozy fabric.

Taking in a deep but shaky breath and letting it out slowly, the older sister nodded, though tears still brimmed the corners of her eyes. Gently leaning the side of her head the side of Anna's, she took in a deep breath as she began to calm down some more. "Thank you for helping me, Anna," she murmured.

"Thank you for trusting me," the princess stated in reply. "I love you, Elsa, and I will always be here when you need me."

"And from now on, I'll always be here for you, too," the queen added while running her cold fingers through the warm mane of red hair. Knowing that she wasn't the only one who had suffered in the past thirteen years, she felt that she needed to reassure Anna that she would always be willing to offer the same comfort that she was receiving. "If ever _you_ need _me_ , don't hesitate to say so; I'll always be there. Don't ever forget that."

"I won't," the princess replied while simply enjoying the feel of being held by her big sister. The feeling of the cool fingertips running across her scalp and down through the rest of her hair was so relaxing, that she almost dozed off.

"Anna?" the queen quietly began while still running her fingers through the strawberry blonde locks.

"Hmm?" the princess hummed in return.

"Would you like me to braid your hair before we go get some breakfast?"

"Mmhm," Anna hummed as an affirmative.

"Okay, then." The two siblings rearranged themselves on the bed so that Anna sat cross-legged facing the smashed mirror, while Elsa sat directly behind her.

Reaching over to her nightstand, the Snow Queen retrieved her hairbrush and proceeded to gently remove the tangles from her little sister's hair. Anna closed her eyes and smiled. Since the deaths of their parents, she was the only person who brushed and braided her hair, but there was something about a loved one's touch that made what Elsa was doing so much better.—One of those things was that Elsa had more experience with braiding hair, and was thus better at doing it.—

One of the few unaltered memories that the princess had was of her big sister brushing her hair and putting it in pigtails for her. It was a memory that she would often revisit when she felt lonely during the thirteen years of isolation.

Anna was enjoying the brushing so much, that if she were a cat, she would've purred.

Elsa was also enjoying brushing her little sister's hair as much as Anna was having it brushed. Taking a lock of the strawberry blonde hair in one hand, the ice queen gently brushed out the tangles with the other. She did this until the princess's hair was tangle free, then she parted the hair in the center of the scalp before reaching over to her nightstand once again. Retrieving two hair ties, she temporarily slid them over her wrist and proceeded to braid the right braid, then the left, and tied them with the hair ties. Running her hands gently over the braids with a smile, she placed a few small, decorative snowflakes in the red hair. "There! All done," she triumphantly stated.

"Thanks, Elsa!" the princess exclaimed as she whirled round to face her sister, the newly done braids almost smacking her in the face. "Would you like me to braid _your_ hair now?"

Elsa's eye brows shot up in surprise. She was so used to doing things for other people, that having people do things for her seemed strange. "If it's not too much trouble, then yes, please," she answered.

"No, no, it's no trouble at all…" she reassured her big sister while reaching for a hair tie. "I want to do this for you, Elsa."

Seeing Anna ready with hairbrush in hand, the older sister smiled. "Okay, thank you, Anna."

"You're welcome, Elsie," the princess replied with her own smile before crawling around her sister so that she could begin. As she started to work out the tangles, she suddenly asked, "How am I like Lucy Pevensie?"

"Hm?"

"Last night, you said that she reminded you of me," Anna verified. "How are we similar?"

"Well…" Elsa began, "when you both set your minds to something, you do it no matter how hard it is, neither of you ever give up on those you love or what you believe in, you're both cheerful, optimistic, and… you're both the little sister."

Smiling sheepishly, Anna continued to brush the long hair as she tried to shift the attention off of herself, "Wasn't Susan also a little sister? I mean, Peter _was_ the eldest, after all."

"I know," Elsa agreed, "but between the two sisters, Lucy was the youngest."

"Hmm," the princess hummed in understanding as she thought. "I remember in _The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe_ , Edmund started out as such a brat, but I'm glad that he changed. The care that he developed for others made him a more likable character."

"I agree," the queen stated before a slight blush started to creep over her face, as well as a nervous grin. "I always thought that Peter was a… very nice young man."

"Yeah, I think he was nice as well. Wait… you _**hesitated!**_ " Anna looked up from her brushing, a sly smirk on her lips as she poked her sister's side, which caused the other to jump and squeak in surprise. "You have a crush on Peter Pevensie!" Anna sang.

"I do not."

"You do to."

"Do not!"

"Do to!"

"Do not!"

"Quit squirming! You're making me mess up your braid!"

Elsa scoffed as she rolled her eyes with a smile. "Anna, you're so funny that you're infuriating."

"Thank you," the younger sister beamed as she finished the braid. "There! Done." Tossing the hairbrush onto the sheets, Anna wrapped her arms around the other's waist with a large smile, nuzzling her shoulder. "What shall we do now, _big sister_?" she asked, emphasizing what she didn't have for thirteen years.

As if on cue, Elsa's stomach growled. "How about we get breakfast, _little sister_?" she replied, emphasizing what she also didn't have for thirteen years.

Anna's stomach growled as if in replying in the affirmative. "That sounds like a marvelous idea; I'm starving!"

Slipping on their slippers and putting on their robes, the two sisters left the room and went to go get some breakfast.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Well, there's chapter five! I hope you enjoyed it.

Please tell me what you think in the review box below, and to the Guest who reviewed a few hours ago, you have no idea how happy your review has made me! :-) Also, congratulations on being the first reviewer! :-D I sure hope that this chapter didn't disappoint.

God bless you and your day.

Sincerely, The Professor.


	6. Chapter Six: The Shadow of the Prince

**[TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains references to thoughts of suicide and thoughts of self-harm, as well as dark and scary themes.]**

 _ **Chapter Six: The Shadow of the Prince**_

 _Theme Song: You Are My Sunshine by Elizabeth Mitchell_

Later that night, both sisters sat in the bedroom that they were sharing once more.

Elsa had the servants move everything from her former room back into the one that she used to share with Anna a long time ago. The staff were all too happy to do this for her because they all cared deeply for the two royal sisters who were their employers, and were overjoyed that they were reunited.

The young queen was relieved that she wouldn't have to sleep in the room that had been her prison for thirteen years anymore. That room brought her too many sad memories.

The princess was also relieved that the large empty space in her heart—and her room—was finally being filled again after thirteen years of being alone. Anna was currently laying on her bed in her green nightgown with her legs dangling over the side. She gently kicked the side of her bed with her sock covered heels while she fanned her arms as if she were making snow angels in the blankets. "I'm so excited that we're sharing our old room again!" she squealed in delight.

Elsa chuckled warmly at her little sister's excitement. "I'm excited, too," she stated from her seat on the edge of the bed before gently poking her sister in the side, causing Anna to giggle. Rolling onto her side, Anna took Elsa's hand in both of hers; her hand felt cool to the touch, but not cold. She suddenly grew more serious as she quietly murmured, "I've really missed you, Elsa."

"I've missed you, too, Sunshine," the Snow Queen replied before giving her sister's hand a squeeze. "Did you have fun building snowmen today?" she asked with a smile.

"Mhm," Anna hummed with a nod. "It was _so much fun._ I've really missed building snowmen with you."

"I have, too."

"Haha! Did you see Kristoff's face every time you made something out of ice? It. Was. Hilarious!" Anna laughed at the thought of the Master Ice Harvester and Deliverer tearing up and murmuring, "Now _that's_ ice!" every so often.

"I caught a glimpse of him looking a bit misty-eyed once or twice," Elsa confirmed. "I must admit, it is a relief that there are other members of the human race who don't see my powers as evil." Suddenly, a smirk grace her lips. "But speaking of Kris-… uh, Kristian…? Kristoffer?-"

"Kristoff."

"Yes, Kristoff. Thank you. Speaking of Kristoff, quite a lot of people caught more than a glimpse of you and our Master Ice Harvester being rather… affectionate while you were giving him his new sled yesterday."

Anna blushed as she suddenly found the blankets so much more interesting and glued her eyes there rather that looking her sister in the eye. "Oh, really?" she nonchalantly inquired, trying to sound as inconspicuous as possible.

"Why, yes," the Snow Queen continued casually. "In fact, I would even go as far as to say that the two of you were being quite romantic, from what I hear."

Letting go of Elsa's hand, Anna rolled over so that her blushing cheeks were out of sight. "And where did you hear _that_ from?"

Laying on the bed next to her little sister, Elsa let a purely evil grin claim her features since Anna wouldn't be able to see it. "From none other than Olaf, of course," she replied. "Judging by what he said, it sounded like you two had, oh, I don't know… kissed." For a benevolent character, Elsa had the evil smirk of a villain—like Scar from _The Lion King_. "I can see it now," she stated began before continuing in her best imitation of her sister, "'Oh, Kristoff, you're such a strong and handsome gentleman, unlike Prince Hans, who was just a complete and utter jerk,'" she placed the back of her hand against her forehead in a mock sigh.

"Shut up," Anna shyly retorted before reaching for a pillow and blindly smacking behind herself, hoping that it would hit her teasing older sister.

Giggling, Elsa caught it before it could hit her and continued in her best imitation of the Ice Harvester, "'Oh, Anna, you are so beautiful. Any man who doesn't love you is a fool!'"

"Shut up!" the blushing princess barked again as she tried to yank the pillow out of the Snow Queen's grasp.

Enjoying tormenting her sister like this, Elsa let the pillow go, but sat up on her knees as she started to tickle the princess's sides while continuing in her best Kristoff voice, "'Do not worry, Princess Anna! For I, Kristoff, the Master Ice Harvester and Deliverer, shall save you!'"

Anna squealed at the tickling and wriggled about as she tried to escape the childish form of torture. "Haha! Sto-Stop it, E-Elsa! Hahaha!" she begged in the midst of laughter.

"Never!"

"P-Please—ha!—st-stop!"

"The use of the magic word changes _nothing_!"

Trying to grab Elsa's arms in an attempt to fight back, Anna continued to squirm and laugh, while the Snow Queen giggled at how ridiculous her little sister looked as she continued to tickle her.

Eventually, Anna's hysterical cries of "Stop!" and "Mercy!" were acknowledged when the door to the room burst open. "Princess Anna! Is everything alright?!" The queen paused her tickle torture, and the two giggling sisters met the gaze of the concerned head housemaid. Upon seeing that the princess wasn't being murdered, the older woman smiled fondly. It had been far too long since there had been any laughter in the castle, let alone since the two sisters had played together as sisters should. "As you were, your Majesties," she stated with a chuckle before closing the door again.

"No! Gerda! Please, don't leave! Help me!" Anna pleaded when she saw her sister wiggle her fingers tauntingly at her, threatening to tickle her again.

"You're on your own!" the housemaid good-naturedly called back as she continued on back downstairs. Normally, in that culture and time-period, a servant wouldn't dare respond to their employers in such a joking and familiar way. However, Gerda, as well as Kai, had been serving the royal family for so long, and had known the two sisters for so long, that they were almost like extended family. Almost like an aunt and uncle to them.

When it seemed that all hope of getting help from Gerda to end the tickle war was lost, Anna held up her hands in a "T" shape and asked, "Can we please take a break; I'm all tickled out."

Elsa considered this before replying, "Okay, I'll stop, it's about time we started winding down for bed anyway."

"Thank you!" the princess breathed out in a sigh of relief.

"But just so you know," the queen added as she turned down the blankets of her bed, "I don't even want to _hear talk_ of you marrying Kristoff until you've courted him for at _least_ a year. Okay?"

"Don't worry, Elsa," the redhead replied while fluffing her pillows, "I've learned my lesson… but… I can't guarantee that there won't be _talk_ … of marriage, that is. I mean, you don't court someone just because you feel like it, do you? There has to be a purpose to the courtship or else it's just a waste of time, right? 'Cause, I _would_ like courting Kristoff to _eventually_ lead to marriage someday—If that's alright with you! I'm not going to get engaged, let alone married to a man without your blessing, I mean… _last_ time I tried that, it didn't turn out so well—"

"Anna," Elsa interrupted, snapping her sister out of her runaway-train-like statement. The princess thought that she was in trouble for a moment before Elsa's next statement proved her wrong: "I'm glad that you want to take things slowly with Kristoff, I was just trying to emphasize that. Alright?"

"Alright," the younger sister replied with a smile and a nod to show that she understood. "Thanks, Elsie."

"Whatever for?" the Snow Queen asked as she went over to the bookshelves to get something to read.

Joining her older sibling in front of the bookcase, Anna shyly answered with a shrug, "For wanting to keep me safe."

Turning her head to smile at her precious baby sister, Elsa warmly replied, "You are most welcome, Anna." She just couldn't quite believe that the little girl with bright red pigtails, the same little girl who would run around the castle causing havoc and fun at every turn, play in the mud with no shame, and crawl into bed with her whenever she was scared, was now a grown woman. It just about broke her heart. She had missed out on so much. Anna probably had many fun adventures—well, as fun as one locked in a castle could have—while she was growing up… and Elsa had missed all of them. Anna was all grown up now. She had missed it, and why? Because she wanted to keep her sister safe, and was dumb enough to not see that the solution to controlling her dangerous powers was knocking on her door almost every single day. If she had only opened the door the first time Anna had knocked, she probably would've spared them both so much pain. Yet despite all of that pain, Anna was still thanking her. For "keeping her safe"? For loving her? Her doubt and her reason fought over which one it was.

She turned her head back to the rows of books to hide the tears that were stinging the corners of her eyes.

She was such a horrible sister.

Remembering Anna's words from that morning, she shook her head slightly, as if to shake the negative thoughts from her mind, and quickly stopped any snowflakes from dusting more than just the top of the bookshelves.

Not finding any of the books interesting, and not noticing the sudden chill in her cozy nightgown, Anna sighed tiredly before casually asking, "Sooo… what did you do this afternoon besides play with me?"

"Well," Elsa began, "since Mama and Papa had to dismiss most of the staff to hide my powers after I accidentally hurt you, I've decided that I'm going to hire some more servants to take some of the work off of Kai and Gerda's plates."

"Hm, that sounds like a good idea," the princess commented.

"Yes. I scoured the newspapers earlier today, and I found something that looks rather promising."

Abandoning the project of trying to find a book to read, Elsa took a folded newspaper clipping from her nightstand and handed it to her sister.

"'Ove Trygve,'" Anna read aloud. "'Experienced footman for hire,' hm."

"Does talking about my work bore you?" Elsa asked with a small smile, noticing that her sister wasn't really that interested.

"No! Well, kinda, sorta… okay, yes, it kinda does," Anna confessed. "But, I do admit, it would be nice to actually have a castle with… a lot of people who live in it…" Elsa arched an eyebrow in curiosity, "for lack of better way to say what I'm trying to get across…"

The older sister rolled her eyes as she shook her head lovingly before enveloping the younger girl in a hug. "Oh, Anna," she chuckled, "don't ever change."

"Okay," the princess answered, "just so long as you don't change, either."

"What if I were to change for the better?" the queen inquired. Anna didn't know it, but the answer to this question would mean quite a lot to the older sister.

"Then you'd have to let me change for the better, too," Anna replied in a determined tone. She gave a good answer.

Elsa smiled, albeit only a small one. "Okay." Another good answer.

After a moment, the older sister pulled away from the hug, but rested her hands on Anna's shoulders. "Let's get to bed," she suggested. "It's starting to get late."

Looking at the clock, Anna saw that her sister was right. It was ten thirty-eight-ish. "Okay," she agreed. "Night-night, Elsie," she murmured with a smile.

"Goodnight, Sunshine," Elsa replied before giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"Are you going to be okay?" the younger sibling asked in a suddenly serious, but loving tone as she took her sister's hands in both of hers.

Knowing what she was referring to, Elsa smiled and nodded. "As long as _you_ are with me, I know I will be."

"Okay. I love you," Anna stated with her own smile, albeit a serious one.

"I love you, too."

Climbing into their respected beds, Elsa sent a short burst of icy air toward the candle on her nightstand to put out the light. With the light of the moon casting its soft rays through the window, the two sisters snuggled down underneath their blankets.

There was silence for a few moments, before a hushed voice made itself known.

"Elsa?"

"Yes, Anna?" came the whispered reply.

"Just checking."

Satisfied that her big sister was indeed here, and here to stay, Anna rolled over with a smile and finally relaxed.

As the two sisters began to slowly doze off, the rays of the moon quickly yet fondly caressed them before dark wooly blankets put the sky to bed as well, and a few drops of rain began to gently tap a song on the window to lull the two girls to sleep.

Opening her eyes, Anna found that she was unable to move. Upon looking at her hands where they laid spread out on either side of her, she found that they were tied to a white wall. The wall in question was covered from top to bottom in crisscrossing white threads, completely covering it, and allowing the rope which held her in place to be nearly camouflaged.

Understandably, she stared to panic, especially when a multitude of spiders started to crawl up her legs and all over her body. Looking up, she tried to cry for help, but was unable to, and saw that she was trapped inside what appeared to be a box made of transparent ice.

Through the ice, she saw a much larger room that was pitch black, and her sister standing with her head bowed.

She tried to call out to her, but she still couldn't get any sound to come forth.

Suddenly, she heard Elsa speak. "Kill me."

What? No! Why would she say that?

"Please… kill me…"

Struggling to free herself, the princess kept trying and trying to call out to her sister, but to no avail. The spiders crawled all over her and bit her while a tall, dark figure approached the sister standing outside the box of ice.

"Please…" the Snow Queen pleaded in hopelessness while looking her little sister straight in the eye. "I don't want to live anymore."

"What would you have me do?" the figure asked from its place behind her.

There was a pause before she answered, "Kill me."

Drawing a long sword from an invisible sheath, the stranger raised it and answered, "As you wish… _your_ _ **Majesty!**_ " At that jeering hiss, the sword swung down and cut off her head.

The head magically rolled through the ice wall and rested face up at Anna's feet, causing her to stare mouth open and eyes wide in shock.

Slowly walking through the ice wall, the stranger approached her.

She recognized him.

 _Hans!_

Chuckling darkly, the evil prince grinned at her, his needle-like teeth covered in blood—the blood of her sister—and his black eyes piercing her own. Slowly tilting his head to the side, he peered at her; long, black, spindly legs coming out of his back as he approached her. "Oh, Anna," he chuckled, "if only there was someone out there who _loved you._ "

Something caused her to look back down upon the head of her sister, and as she did so, she finally managed to whimper, "No… Elsa… No…"

Holding the point of the sword against her throat, the shadowy prince rasped, " _Your sister can't hear you anymore._ "

Eyes quickly opening, Anna woke up; the rain pelted against the window as she stared into the darkness with fear. Occasionally, the room was temporarily lit up by a flash of lightning before being followed closely behind by a loud crash of thunder.

Great. Just what she needed.

Anna wasn't afraid of storms per say, but ever since news reached Arendelle of her parents drowning in a sea storm, storms had always made her very sad.

When she was little—around ten years old—she used to love storms because then the sky would seem to portray how hurt she was inside, and she often wondered if it was God crying because He understood that she was hurting and was.

With the images from her nightmare cycling through her head, Anna reached for her pillow and hugged it tightly to her chest as she tried not to cry.

 _Big girls don't cry. Princesses don't cry. Big girls don't cry. Princesses don't cry. Big girls don't cry…_ she chanted in her head—much like Elsa's "Conceal. Don't feel,"—as she sniffled. _I wish Elsa was here… wait… Elsa!_ Bolting upright, Anna looked across the room, and sure enough, Elsa was fast asleep in her bed.

After thinking for a moment, she quietly slipped out from under the blankets and crept over to Elsa's bed. She hadn't done this for thirteen years, yet she worked up the courage to whisper, "Elsa?... Elsa?... _Elsa?_ "

Groaning tiredly, the older sister rolled over towards her and brushed her blonde hair out of her face. For a moment, she forgot that she and her sister were sharing a room once more, and quickly sat up in a groggy panic with a small burst of snowflakes before remembering how to control her powers and calming down. "Anna? What is it?"

"Can…" she began in a murmur while shuffling her feet, "Can I sleep with you?... Please?... I had a nightmare."

"Of course you can, Anna," the older sister sleepily replied before scooting over, pulling back the blankets, and patting the space beside her.

"Thanks, Elsa," Anna whispered as she gladly slid in and huddled underneath the blankets. Since Elsa's powers involved ice and snow, one would think that her skin would be cold to the touch, as well anything that was in contact with her skin for long periods of time, but no; when Anna got underneath the blankets… they were warm.

"Do you want to talk about your nightmare?" the older sister asked.

There was a pause before the princess replied, "Yes."

"Okay then, tell me all about it."

"Can you hug me while I tell you?" Anna timidly asked.

"Of course, Sunshine," Elsa replied with an understanding smile while opening her arms wide, inviting her to come closer. Her baby sister smiled as she snuggled close and rested her head underneath her big sister's chin. One arm braced close to herself, and the other around Elsa's waist, Anna snuggled down and took comfort from feeling her sister wrap her arms lovingly around her. "So, what happened in your dream?" the elder sister asked once more.

"I was trapped in a spider web that was in a box made of ice," Anna quietly began. "You were outside the box of ice, and so was Hans. Before he came, you were asking for someone to kill you," she gulped. "You asked Hans to kill you and he…" she held her sister more tightly, "he cut off your head." Elsa's eyes widened.

"Your head rolled over to my feet and I finally recognized Hans. He had piranha teeth, black eyes, and spider legs coming out of his back…

"He said, 'Oh, Anna, if only there was someone out there who loved you.'

"The whole time, I tried to call out to you, but it was like my throat wasn't working for some reason, but after he said that, I finally started crying and saying your name. Hans just pointed his sword at my throat and said, 'Your sister can't hear you anymore,' and then I woke up."

Though Anna couldn't see it, Elsa was frowning; at Hans for deliberately saying and doing such hurtful things to her little sister in real life, at herself for _accidentally_ hurting her sister and possibly causing her this post-traumatic stress, and at the demon that gave Anna the nightmare.

A few snowflakes were floating down onto the bed as Anna added, "Remember when I told you about how Kristoff, Olaf, and I went to see you in your ice palace?"

Elsa nodded.

Anna began to repeat the story that she had told the day before to her sister. "After that, we went to see the rock trolls—remember? Kristoff's family—and…" she paused, knowing that this was a delicate subject for her sister, "they told me that I had ice in my heart and that only an Act of True Love could save me. So I thought, 'A True Love's Kiss, of course! Duh!' and we sped back to the castle so that Hans could kiss me. However, just as he was about to kiss me, he stopped and said, 'Oh, Anna, if only there was someone out there who loved you.' Then he put out the fire in the fireplace and told me his evil plan to kill you and take the throne before he locked me in the library to freeze…"

"Well, you don't ever have to worry about him ever again," Elsa promised. "Earlier today, I sent a letter to the King of the Southern Isles explaining what Hans did, and that if he is ever found in our kingdom again, he will be sent back to his home immediately."

"Thank you, Elsa," the princess whispered gratefully.

"You're welcome, Anna," the queen quietly replied. "If _anyone_ ever _dares_ to say such awful things to you again, you come and tell me and I will take care of them. Okay?"

"Okay, Elsa."

"Good girl."

"Elsa?"

"Yes?"

"Before I froze…" Anna timidly began, "I heard Hans draw his sword… did you hear it, too?"

Taking a deep breath as more snowflakes fell, Elsa nervously nodded.

Brow furrowing in confusion, the younger sister then inquired, "Why didn't you defend yourself?"

Holding Anna more tightly, Elsa honestly answered, "Because Hans had just told me that you were dead and that it was all my fault… His exact words were, 'Your sister is dead because of you.' Since I had caused you to suffer, I knew that I didn't deserve to live.

"I once read that 'No reason to stay is a good reason to go,' and I loved you—and still love you—so much, that with you gone, I had nothing left to live for; I had no reason to stay.

"I love you _so much_ , that the thought of having to continue life without you is worse than death itself. So, long story short, I was letting Hans kill me because it was my fault and I deserved it, and because… I love you. Being separated from you by a door hurt me so much, but being separated from you by death… that pain is indescribable." She paused for a moment before adding, "You're my little sister… as your big sister I am your keeper and I'm supposed to take care of you and keep you safe, and yet… you had died because of me… just like when Cain killed Abel."

She waited for a response from her sister, but Anna said nothing. She just trembled and shook in Elsa's arms. "Anna," she began, "are you alright?"

Pulling back enough to look her older sister in the eye, Anna glared at Elsa through her tears. "Elsa… you…" the princess began in a sob, "Cain _murdered_ Abel. You didn't murder me; it was an _accident_! How dare you not try to defend yourself and then accuse yourself of murder? How dare you? Don't you ever do anything like that again, do you hear me? Don't you ever dare," she ordered in a whimper.

Oh, _no_! No, _no_ , _**no!**_ Elsa did it again! She made her sister cry! _Again!_ When would she ever stop causing Anna pain?!

"Living without _you_ would be too much for me to bear, either," the princess added. "I just-… How could-… Why-…" The woman couldn't finish a sentence she was so upset. Giving up on trying to speak, she just shook her head and pressed the heel of her hand against her forehead as she sobbed.

Seeing her baby sister crying like this broke Elsa's heart, and the salt on the wound was the fact that _she_ was the one who made her cry. Not knowing what else to do, the queen pulled her little sister back into a hug and held her tightly, letting the younger girl cry into her shoulder as she murmured, "Shh, it's okay, Anna. It's okay. I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to stay right here with you. I'm never going to pull a stunt like that again."

"Promise?" the princess whimpered.

"I promise."

"Cross your heart and hope to—I-I mean cross your heart?"

"Cross my heart and hope to live to see old age."

"…Okay."

Anna had so many questions going through her mind. Was that the first time that Elsa wanted to die? Was it only the most recent? Had she ever tried to take her own life? Had she ever wanted to just hurt herself? _Had she_ ever gone through with hurting herself? If she did, did she have any scars? Where were they if she did? What if her nightmare would come true?

"Hey, Anna, you know what?" Elsa asked, distracting the younger sister from her scared thoughts as the snow began to slowly melt.

"What?" Anna asked.

"One day," the older sister began fondly as she rested her chin on Anna's head and gently stroked her messy red hair, "I crawled up onto Mama and Papa's bed where Mama laid holding something that I wanted—and was trying—to see. Mama looked at me and smiled and said, 'Elsa… would you like to meet your little sister?' I sat down and nodded, then she put you in my lap and as I held you in my arms, you looked up at me… and promptly began to cry." Elsa smiled fondly at the memory while Anna blushed with the embarrassment that comes with hearing a story about one's self as an infant. Surprisingly, all of the snow from earlier was gone at this point, without Elsa even thinking about it.

"When you cried, you sounded like an angry cat," Elsa continued with a chuckle, "and now that I think about it, that's both adorable and funny, but I was so terrified that I had scared or hurt you, so I started to quietly sing to you. I sang _You Are My Sunshine_ to you and you calmed down.

"Mama and Papa started talking about what they were going to name you after that. Mama suggested Victoria, and Papa suggesting something else that I can't remember, but I piped up and said, 'No. Her name is Anna.' They didn't agree at first, but I finally annoyed them into agreeing, and from that day forward, your name was Anna, and _You Are My Sunshine_ was your special song." Elsa's smile widened. "Sometimes when you cried in the middle of the night, I would climb into your crib with you and cuddle with you either until you fell asleep again, or until either Mama, Papa, or Nanny came to feed you or change your diaper. They would scold me, saying that I was too old to be sleeping in a crib, and put me back in my bed on the other side of the room. But do you know what?"

"What?"

"As soon as they left, I would climb right back into your crib again because I didn't want to be away from you. You even managed to climb out of your crib a couple times and crawled over to my bed, and when I noticed you were there you would look up at me and hold out your arms, silently asking me to pick you up. Then I would get out of bed and put you back in your crib, climb in with you, and cuddle with you.

"If you woke up crying again, I would sing you your song, or if that didn't work, then I would use my powers in some way to try and calm you. One time I even made a teddy bear for you out of snow."

"I… don't think I remember that bear," Anna commented.

"Well, I'm not surprised, you were very little at the time and the Grand Pabbie altered all of your memories of my powers."

There was a pause before Anna asked, "What was the bear's name again?"

Elsa smiled. "His name was Snowy Bear."

There was another pause before the queen continued on her original train of thought, "It was very important that I got you to stop crying before anyone could hear you and separate us again because you would be lonely and would cry and then I would be lonely and wouldn't be able to get to sleep." She paused. "You know what else?"

"What else?" Anna asked with a tired yawn.

"When I was locked in my room all those years, I would sing your song when I missed you and felt lonely, and I would sometimes add a new verse to make it longer." Elsa paused as she went through the lyrics in her head.

"Elsa?"

"Yes, Anna?"

"Could… Could you please sing it to me?" the younger sister timidly asked.

The older sister lovingly smiled. "I would love to." Elsa then began to quietly sing Anna's special song as she continued to gently brush her cool fingers through Anna's long, beautiful hair.

"You are my Sunshine

My only Sunshine

You make me happy when skies are grey.

You'll never know, dear

How much I love you

Please, don't take my Sunshine away.

"The other night, dear

As I lay sleeping

I dreamt I held you in my arms.

When I awoke, dear

I was mistaken

So I hung my head and cried.

"When you were small, dear

While we were playing

I accidentally hurt you.

To keep you safe, I

Had to hide from you

It hurt me as much as you.

"After I hurt you

I rushed to your side

And then I held you in my arms.

A streak of white hair

Showed I was guilty

So I held you tight and cried.

"You are my sister

My only sister

I stay locked away to keep you safe.

You'll never know, dear

How much I love you

Please, don't take my sister away.

"The other day, dear

Out on the fjord

I held you frozen in my arms.

I wanted my life

To quickly end there

As I hung my head and cried.

"Out on the ice, dear

As I stood weeping

I felt you thawing in my arms.

When I looked up, I

Wasn't mistaken

Then I held you close and cried.

"Late last night, dear

While I was hurting

I was tempted to self-harm

When you walked in, dear

I couldn't do it

Instead you held me and we cried.

"Late tonight, dear

While you were sleeping

You dreamt that I was cruelly killed.

When you woke up, dear

You were mistaken

So please, my dear, don't cry.

"I promise you, dear

I'll never leave you

I'll never try to take my life.

So please don't worry

My precious Anna

Oh, please, Sunshine, don't cry.

"You are my Sunshine

My only Sunshine

You make me happy when skies are grey.

You'll never know, dear

How much I love you

Please, don't take my Sunshine away.

Please, don't take my Sunshine away." Anna's eyelids were so heavy by the time Elsa had quietly finished the song that she was nearly asleep, but her mind was still active. _"I was tempted to self-harm,"_ she repeated in her head. _So Elsa_ has _either self-harmed before or has at least thought about it._ That wasn't good. She would have to confront her sister about that the next morning. She gave her sister a squeeze, hoping it would somehow express her sympathy and understanding.

" _I promise… I'll never try to take my life," she better not. I'm holding her to that promise._

Her train of thought was cut off as she felt a pair of warm lips temporarily press against her forehead, and heard a soft shuffling sound as she felt the blankets being pulled further up to cover her shoulders. "Goodnight, Sunshine," Elsa quietly whispered as Anna's messy red bangs moved slightly with every warm breath she took.

"Night…" Anna softly murmured in reply.

"I love you."

"Love you, too."

Anna soon fell asleep again to the pitter-patter of rain, and this time… she wasn't scared.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Okay, I can explain.

A while back, I was looking through some headcanons that some Frozen fans on Tumblr had (no, I don't have an account), and I remember reading one that basically said (I'm putting it in my own words here), "When Elsa collapsed after Hans told her that Anna was dead, the storm quieted down and Anna could hear Hans draw his sword. If Anna could hear him drawing his sword, then Elsa **must** have heard it, too, since she was closer to Hans than Anna was. Why didn't she defend herself? Answer: She felt that she needed to be punished for not protecting Anna and she felt that she didn't belong there anymore now that the thirteen years spent in isolation have been wasted *insert more heartbreaking explanations here.*" And I read that, and my reaction was: O_O *deep breath* " _ **YES! I'm going to refer to this headcanon in my fanfiction!**_ " So whoever posted that headcanon, I give them the credit for that idea (I regret to say that I can't remember their username… still, not my idea, their idea.)

So long story short, don't worry, Mom, I'm not suicidal.

(Yeah, my Mom reads my fanfictions…)

I would also like to say thanks to everyone who's reviewed this story so far. You have no idea how happy I get when I see that someone has reviewed; it means the world to me and fills me with so much joy. :-)

Please tell me what y'all thought of this chapter in the review box below.

God bless you and your day.

Sincerely, The Professor.


	7. Chapter Seven: Forgotten Rooms

_**Chapter Seven: Forgotten Rooms**_

 _Theme Song: Gymnopedie No. 1 (Dark Piano Cover) by Myuu_

Early the next morning, at about six o'clock, Elsa woke up. When she was a teenager, her father helped her train herself to wake up early every day without someone else having to wake her. By now, her eyes would automatically open at six in the morning every morning without fail. Unless she stayed up late the night before, that is.

Opening her eyes, Elsa was greeted with the sight of… a pair of sock covered feet. Groggily sitting up while running her fingers through her messy hair to try and even it out, she saw none other than her sister. Apparently, Anna had moved around a lot in her sleep, as she was currently sprawled out on her stomach with her head where her feet should have been, her feet where her head should've been, and one arm dangling off the side of the bed.

Rubbing the sleep out of one eye with the heel of her hand, Elsa smiled at the comical sight of her sister. Carefully slipping out of bed so as to not wake up the princess, Elsa quickly changed, braided her hair, and wrote a quick note for Anna, explaining where she would be, before carefully covering her up with a warm spare blanket and quietly leaving the room.

Once she was out in the hallway, she made her way to her office to look over what had to be done that day before she went and had breakfast. The office used to be her father's, but now that she was queen, it was hers.

A sense of déjà vu came over her as she stood outside the door. Since sharing a room with her sister would make organization difficult, she had Kai move all of her important papers from her old room to her father's office yesterday with the intent to use it as her own work area. However, this would be her first time seeing the room since the accident. Would it even still be the same?

Taking a deep breath to try and calm her nerves, she reached for the doorknob and slowly turned it with a _click_ before carefully opening the door.

Creaking on its old hinges, the door opened to reveal a small room with red velvet carpet and deep green wallpaper. On the side of the room opposite the door, a single large triangular window looked out towards the Northern Mountains. In the center of the wall to the right, a framed map of the kingdom hung over a chair and desk which faced the fireplace in the opposite wall. Above the fireplace, there was a portrait of the royal family, which was painted before the isolation when Anna was still a baby. A short distance from the fireplace, two chairs faced each other; one was a blue high-backed chair—her father's—and the other was a cushioned, white and yellow stripped rocking chair—her mother's. Also in front of the fireplace, and adjacent to the two chairs, was a light green sofa that could seat four people. On the walls either side the fireplace, door, and window, stood ceiling-high book cases which were filled with all sorts of volumes and novels. Built into the wall just below the window, was a long padded seat, and in the corner to its left, between two bookcases, stood an old grandfather clock.

Taking a deep breath, Elsa took in the smell of the room, and with it, the memories. There was the smell of tea, from when her mother would help her father with his work or keep him company when he worked late. The scent of coffee lingered from the king's needs for caffeine in the early mornings and late nights. The faint smell of cocoa could be detected from when the two young princesses would spend time with their busy father during the evenings. Lastly, there was the smell of her father's plug tobacco, which he would cut into pieces to smoke in his pipe while resting in his chair by the fire.

The room hadn't changed at all.

The familiar sights and smells of the room calmed the young queen and brought a fond smile to her face.

She would definitely enjoy working in here.

Going over to the desk which held the stack of papers that she had asked Kai to move, she used her powers to make a temporary ice lamp before taking a piece of clean paper, donning her spectacles, and making a list of what had to be done that week. On the other side, she then mapped out the work that she would do on each day of the week. With that done, she placed the list on the desk and glanced at the clock. It was a quarter past six… she better go get some breakfast.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

In the dining room at exactly six twenty, Elsa sat down to some breakfast. It was nice to actually eat in the dining room again since she hadn't done so since the accident. Eating quickly, she finished her meal and was about to leave the dining room to get on with her work, when she saw her little sister tiredly shuffling through the doorway, still in her nightgown.

"Good morning, Anna," Elsa greeted as she approached her, "you're up early."

"I just woke up for no reason and saw that you weren't there so I felt lonely, but I found your note," Anna explained while tiredly rubbing the sleep out of one eye. "Why are _you_ up so early?"

"I'm the queen now, silly," Elsa began while playfully ruffling her sister's still messy hair. "I have a lot of work to do, and thus, have to get up early. Did you have any more nightmares last night?"

"No…" the princess replied before timidly adding, "Thanks, Elsa, for letting me cuddle with you."

"Anything for you, Sunshine," the Snow Queen replied with a happy smile. "I hope you enjoy your breakfast. I'll be working in Papa's old office if you need me, okay? The door will be open." The queen tried to walk past, but the princess quickly moved to block the way. "Anna, what are you doing?"

"There's a toll on the dining room door now. You need to pay a fine if you want to pass."

Crossing her arms over her chest—in annoyance or amusement, one couldn't really be sure which—Elsa asked, "And what, pray tell, is your price?"

"Two things. First, a forehead kiss," Anna stated as she tapped her forehead with one finger.

Smiling fondly while rolling her eyes at her sister's goofy antics, Elsa complied and gave her forehead a quick kiss. "And the other thing?"

Throwing her arms wide open, Anna added, "The second part of the fine is a warm hug, and I know for a fact that you give the warmest hugs ever."

"The _coldest_ hugs ever," Elsa corrected as she wrapped her arms around her little sister.

"No, Elsie," Anna corrected in turn with a kind smile. "Your hugs are always warm, both with love _and_ in temperature."

Elsa gave a small smile; she really hoped that Anna was right. "I'll take your word for it."

"Don't just take my word for it," the younger sibling insisted, "go hug Olaf and Kristoff when you've got the time, I'm sure they'll tell you the same thing I'm telling you."

"I'm… not so sure about hugging Kristoff just yet."

"Okay, then just Olaf. He's the Warm Hug Master. He'll tell you that your hugs are the warmest in the kingdom."

Elsa smiled, both at the thought of the dear little snowman, and at her sister's loving persistence. "Alright, I'll go do that later today," she promised before pulling out of the hug. "Now I need to get to work."

"Okay, I'll come and keep you company after I have breakfast."

" _And_ get dressed."

"And get dressed."

"Don't be afraid to go outside later and see Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven if you want to, okay?"

"Okay. I love you, Elsie."

"I love you, too, Sunshine."

"See you in a bit."

"Looking forward to it."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

After having breakfast and getting dressed, Anna started to make her way over to her father's, I mean Elsa's office.

It was still dark out, but it was just light enough for one to barely see the dark and shadowy presence of the buildings and mountains. You know what I mean. When the sun is _just_ starting to come up but there isn't yet a single speck of gold in the dark blue canvas. The fluffy clouds slowly floated through the troposphere, pushed onward by a cool and gentle breeze blowing from the sea, filling the kingdom with a slightly salty smell.

On the way to the queen's new office, the princess had to pass several doors, but one of them made her stop for a moment. It looked almost the same as all the other doors, she hadn't opened it for years, same as several of the other doors with forgotten rooms, but the reason for that was the difference. With longing eyes, Anna slowly reached for the doorknob and gripped it tightly; would she even be able to turn it? Squeezing her eyes shut while silently hoping and praying, she quickly turned her wrist… and with it, the doorknob. Her eyes flew open with surprise.

It was unlocked!

Slowly opening the door, the princess entered. It was a bedroom, like many of the rooms in the castle, but… this one was different. In the middle of the wall to the far right was a king-sized bed that was covered with a white and purple quilt. On either side of the bed, there was a nightstand. The one on the left side had a candle, and a book, while the one on the right held a pair of spectacles and a pipe in addition to a candle and a book. In the wall opposite the bed was a fireplace, and on either side of it, a large bookcase filled with books. Opposite the door, there was a triangular window which looked out over the fjord below. By the wall a little ways away from the door was a vanity with a little seat in front of it on which the last woman who used this room would sit as her lady's maid helped her do her hair and makeup. Lastly, there was a large, oak wardrobe adjacent to the bed.

Closing the door to the room most of the way, Anna made her way over to the wardrobe as silently and reverently as if she were in church. Standing in front of it, she carefully took hold of the handle and opened it. _Creeaak._ Inside were several fancy and well-made dresses and suits which were separated so that the suits were on one side and the dresses were on the other. On the floor of the closet, there were several pairs of women's dress shoes and men's dress shoes neatly on their respected side of the wardrobe.

Taking the hem of one of the dresses in her hands, the princess brought her face close to the shoulder of it and took a deep breath… Perfume… tea… and coffee.

Reaching for one of the suits, she brought the fabric to her face and inhaled… Coffee… cologne… and tobacco.

The familiar scents brought back memories both happy… and sad. She let the memories play through her mind, until she just couldn't take it anymore. Her shoulders started to shake as she leaned a little bit into the wardrobe and brought the suit and the dress closer to her, burying her face in the fabrics. Tears spilled out of Anna's eyes as she sobbed, fondly rubbing the clothes against her face before whimpering, "Mama… Papa… I miss you." Crying into the former king and queen's clothes, Anna didn't even notice that someone had entered the room until a voice brought her out of her thoughts.

"Anna?"

Quickly wiping her eyes, the princess turned around to see Olaf standing in the doorway with concern written on his snowy features. "O-Olaf," Anna began in slight surprise as she tried to clean her face of any remaining tears, "what're you doing here?"

"Looking for you," the snowman replied while waddling further into the room, his personal flurry floating in with him. "I heard you crying… are you okay?"

"I, um," the redhead murmured while trying to keep more tears from falling, "I'm fine, I just… _really_ miss my parents."

Silence followed for a moment before Olaf asked, "Where are your parents?"

Anna's eyes widened slightly. He didn't know? Well, he was created about three days ago, how could he have known? "They're… They're dead, Olaf."

"Oh…" the snowman sadly replied, not really knowing how else to react. "I'm sorry, Anna. That's really sad."

Wiping the corner of her eye with the heel of her hand, she sniffled slightly. "Yes, Olaf, i-it is really, _really_ sad," she whimpered.

"Would you like a warm hug to make you feel better?' the snowman kindly offered with his stick arms outstretched towards the princess.

Nodding, she squeezed her eyes shut as her tears finally escaped once more. They coursed down her face as she got on her knees and opened her arms wide. Olaf wasted no time wrapping his twig arms around her as best he could. "It's okay, Anna," he quietly murmured, "I've got you."

"Thank you," she replied, her voice shaking and chin resting on his cold head. "I love you, Olaf."

"You're welcome, Anna, I love you, too," the chubby snowman quietly stated as he let the princess cry.

Anna trembled and shook as she sobbed onto the little snowman, the tiny snowflakes from his flurry falling onto her head and shoulders.

"I don't have a mom," Olaf randomly stated to try and cheer her up, "or a dad."

Smiling slightly at his randomness, Anna gave the snowman a squeeze as her sobs began to die down. After thinking about what he had said, the princess remarked, "Actually, Olaf… I think you _do_ have a mom."

The snowman pulled out of the hug with a happy gasp as he lifted his head off of his body. "I have a _mom?_ "

Anna chuckled at Olaf's excitement before confirming, "Yeah, I think you do have a mom." Wiping the remainder of her tears from her eyes, she added, "I think Elsa's your mom."

Putting his head back on and giving another happy gasp, Olaf excitedly proclaimed, "We need to go find Elsa and tell her she's my mom!" The snowman quickly waddled out of the room and Anna quickly rose to her feet to follow him, but not before carefully shutting the wardrobe. Briskly heading over to the door of the room, she looked over her parents' chamber one final time before carefully closing that door as well and running after her snowy friend.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Hi, everyone! There's chapter seven for ya! I hope you liked it.

Please tell me what you think in the review box below. Whenever I read your comments, I literally do a happy dance in my chair. (In fact, I'm surprised that I haven't been caught yet…)

Also, I just want to let you all know that the reason why I've been uploading chapters so quickly is because I already had about ten chapters written out when I first got this fanfiction account a few days ago. In reality, I started writing this fanfiction at the beginning of summer vacation _last year_ and have only written ten chapters and a bit of the eleventh chapter… So when I reach chapter ten, don't expect me to keep on posting more than one chapter a day… or a week. So when the updates start getting really slow, I want you to know that I haven't abandoned the fic, I'm just a slow writer. Please have patience with me.

Thank you.

God bless you and your day.

Sincerely, The Professor.


	8. Chapter Eight: Schedules

_**Chapter Eight: Schedules**_

 _Theme Song: For the First Time In Forever (post Thaw edition) by yours truly; set to the tune of For the First Time In Forever by Disney_

Brow furrowed in concentration with her glasses perched on the bridge of her nose, Elsa worked on the tall stack of papers set before her. Since she had broken all ties with the Southern Isles and Weselton—formerly Arendelle's strongest trade partners—she had to try and find another way to get the southern growing food for her people that the King and Duke had once supplied the kingdom with. Thankfully, Corona, a province of Germany, was still an ally. She had spoken to Princess Rapunzel and Prince-Consort Eugene shortly before they left for home, and—after finding out that they were cousins—was promised that Corona was not going to break ties with Arendelle just because of a temporary change of weather, and besides, as the brunette princess had said, "Magic seems to run in the family."

Elsa was relieved that she could at least be certain of one ally, but she was sorry that they hadn't had a chance to talk some more since that was the first time they had met, but Rapunzel had promised that she and her husband would try to visit them at a later date.

However, despite the still strong relationship with Corona, the Snow Queen had to make alliances with at least a few other kingdoms in order to make up for breaking ties with the Southern Isles and Weasel-town.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a knock come from the partially opened door. _Knock, knock, knock-knock, knock._ She knew that knock anywhere. "Come in, Anna." That phrase would take some getting used to.

The princess came in, and with her, the hyperactive snowman. Olaf ran straight to Elsa as he excitedly proclaimed, "Elsa! Guess what? You're my mom!" At that, he swiftly attached himself to the queen's waist in the tightest, warmest hug he could muster.

Being caught off guard by the snowman's statement, Elsa's eyes widened in surprise. Despite being taken aback, she managed a small smile before returning Olaf's hug. "Yes, Olaf," she confirmed, "I suppose I am."

Hearing this, the snowman's smile grew even larger, and Anna smiled as well, though she still didn't exactly feel like being her normal, bouncy, bubbly self just yet.

"Elsa, you give the warmest hugs ever," Olaf suddenly commented. Elsa's eyes widened in surprise again before she looked up at her younger sister who simply crossed her arms over her chest and smugly mouthed the words, "Told you."

"Are you certain, Olaf?" the queen questioned without breaking eye contact with her sister, still not entirely convinced.

"Mm-hm, I sure am," the snowman replied with a squeeze. "You give the best hugs ever."

Turning the corner of her mouth up in a slightly smile, Elsa murmured, "Thank you, Olaf."

"You're welcome, Elsa. I'm glad that you are my mom."

Choking back a sob, the Snow Queen quietly replied with a shaky voice, "I… I'm glad, too." Giving the snowman's back a pat, she added, "Olaf… why don't you go see what Kai and Gerda are doing?"

"Okay. Bye, Mom-Elsa!" he cheerfully replied before breaking the hug and quickly waddling out of the room.

"Have fun, Olaf!" Anna called after him.

"I will! Bye, Anna!"

Once Olaf had run off to find the butler and head housemaid, Anna went and carefully shut the door before going over to Elsa's desk, leaning her hands against it. "Are you okay?" she asked in concern, noticing that the blonde appeared to be a bit shaken.

"I'm okay," Elsa replied as she wiped the corner of her eye with the heel of her hand, "I just… never thought I'd see the day that someone called me their mother." Sniffling a bit, she regained her composure and asked, "What brought Olaf to the conclusion that I am his mother?"

"I did," Anna began as she went over to Elsa's side of the desk and leaned against it, "I… went to Mama and Papa's old room and Olaf found me there. I told him that I missed them and he randomly stated that he didn't have parents to try and cheer me up. But that got me thinking, and I thought, well, _you_ made him and brought him to life, so I guess that means you're his mother, right?"

"I guess so, but I know one thing… this was quite a pleasant surprise," Elsa replied with a smile. "But speaking of mothers, what were you doing in Mama and Papa's room?"

"It was on the way to your office and I… got sidetracked."

Elsa nervously bit her lip as she slowly nodded. "Anna… how about we visit them later? Together."

A sad smile formed on the red-head's face as she replied, "That would be nice."

Taking one of Anna's hands in her own, Elsa held it tightly as she whispered, "Anna…" the younger sister looked her in the eye, "I am _so sorry_ that I didn't go to their funeral with you. I am _so sorry_ that I wasn't there to comfort you afterwards. And I am _so, so sorry_ … that I left you all alone for all that time… Can you _please_ forgive me?"

Leaning down to envelop the older sister in a hug, Anna softly answered, "I've already forgave you a long time ago, Elsa. There's nothing left to forgive. But there is a way you can make it up to me."

"What is it?" Elsa asked, returning the hug.

"Please don't lock me out again," the younger sister answered, more as a request than as a demand or order.

"I won't," the older sister whispered as she held her sister more tightly. "I promise."

Tightening her own hold on her sibling, Anna murmured in return, "Thank you, Elsie."

"You're welcome, Sunshine." Pulling out of the hug, Elsa reached for her schedule. "I have some free time tomorrow and on Saturday. When would you like to go visit Mama and Papa?"

"How about tomorrow?" Anna suggested while tucking an imaginary strand of hair behind her ear.

"Then tomorrow it is," Elsa replied before readjusting her glasses and adding, _"visit memorials w/ Anna"_ to Friday's schedule.

The younger sister's eyes suddenly widened. "Wait a minute, when did you start wearing glasses?"

"Hm?" the Snow Queen hummed while turning to look at the princess. "Oh, these?" she reached up and removed the spectacles. "I've had them ever since I was fifteen. I have always had trouble seeing things the closer they were held to my face, and I just brushed it off, thinking that that was just the normal way one saw things. However, when I was fifteen, Papa noticed and summoned the doctor—the same one who had examined _his_ eyes—and apparently, I am far-sighted; my eyes can't see things up close very well. So, the doctor gave me theses glasses to help me see, and they help immensely."

Tilting her head slightly to the side, Anna took in what she had just been told. With childish curiosity running rampant through her entire being, she could not help but ask, "May I please try them on?"

"Yes, you may," Elsa replied with a smile while handing them to the princess, "but please don't break them."

"I won't," the younger sister promised while carefully taking them into her hands with wide, eager eyes. You may be thinking that these glasses looked like those of the twenty-first century, but they didn't. They looked like those of the nineteenth century. They were small compared to the eye glasses of today; the lenses were about as large and as round as a quarter, with thick, silver frames.

Anna carefully put them on. "Whoa…" she quietly exclaimed while spreading her arms out to help readjust her depth perception… and to keep her balance. "Everything looks so _weird._ "

Elsa chuckled. "That's because our eyes are different. Your eyes don't have the problems that mine do." Standing up, she grasped her little sister's arms to make sure that she wouldn't lose balance and fall. "You should probably take them off before you fall or hurt your eyes."

"I think that's a good idea," Anna agreed before removing the spectacles and squeezing her eyes shut while rubbing the bridge of her nose. "My eyes are already starting to hurt."

"I'm sorry, Anna," the Snow Queen apologetically murmured before taking the glasses back and placing a quick kiss between her sister's eyes.

The Princess smiled at the show of affection before opening her eyes. "It's okay, Elsa, it's not too bad, and I think it's going away now."

"We should do something fun together on Saturday," the older sister suddenly stated while donning the spectacles once more. "What do you want to do?" Knowing that visiting their parents' memorials would no doubt make them very sad, the young monarch thought that doing something happy together the next day would help balance it and cheer them up a bit.

Taking her chin in her hand, Anna gazed up at the ceiling as she thought. After a moment or two, her eyes widened and she snapped her fingers with a smile. "Why don't we go to your ice palace? I only saw a little bit of it last time, and it was _so_ amazing and beautiful—everything you make with your powers is beautiful, don't get me wrong, but I mean, who can walk past _a palace made of ice_ and not bat an eye? It's not like it's something you see every day, right? And I just want to see what the rest of it looks like; I wanna see it all! I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to, it is _your ice palace_ , after all and I don't want to intrude, but… I'm rambling again, aren't I?"

"Only a little bit," Elsa reassured her with a slight chuckle, "but we can go to my ice palace if you want to."

Gasping slightly in surprise with a huge smile of excitement spreading across her face, Anna hastily threw her arms around her big sister's neck in a hug and exclaimed, "Thank you, Elsa!"

"You're welcome, Anna," the older sibling chuckled in reply while returning the hug. "But are you _sure_ you want to go? It _is_ quite a ways away."

"Of course, I'm sure," Anna reassured while pulling back from the hug, but still keeping her hands on the older sibling's shoulders. "And don't you worry about me catching cold, I'll bundle up in all the sweaters and scarves you can find if you want me to. And if you're worried about getting there, we can ask Kristoff if he'll take us in his sled, though it _would_ be nice if we went by ourselves—not that there's anything wrong with Kristoff tagging alone, there isn't! And I'm sure that he would just _love_ to see the rest of your palace as well, it's just that I'm hoping we could have some one-on-one sister-bonding-catch-up time, that's all, and—… Why are you looking at me like that?"

The corners of Elsa's mouth were turned up in the slightest of smiles while her brow was knit together as she concentrated on her sister's face; almost as if she were recognizing a dear friend after many years or recalling a long-forgotten happy memory. She let out a quick dry chuckle without looking away from the princess's face.

"It's nothing, I just… I think this is the first time in my life that I have looked at you up close and have actually seen you clearly." Her smile grew slightly wider as she delicately cupped Anna's face in her hands and, thanks to her glasses, took in all the tiny details that she had never seen before. "I can actually see the individual strands of your hair instead of just a ginger colored blur," the queen commented, brushing the fingertips of one hand through the princess's bangs. Elsa chuckled as happy tears formed in her eyes. "Everyone always talks about your freckles; how cute they are, how many there are, how they are all over your face… _Now_ I can finally understand what they were talking about. Now I can _finally see them_." The princess gave a small sad smile in return, realizing just how bittersweet this moment was for Elsa before she reached up and covered her sister's hands in her own, holding them tightly.

The Snow Queen shook her head a little in disbelief at how much things had changed and at how much her little sister had grown up. Nevertheless, even though she was sad to have missed the chance to grow up with her sister, she was still so very proud of her and the woman that she had become. "What happened to the little girl with the bright red pigtails?" the older sister suddenly asked. "Who is this beautiful young woman standing in her place?"

"Who is this beautiful woman who's finally taken off her gloves and come out to play with me?" Anna asked fondly in return. "She reminds me a lot of the girl who would protect me from the monsters under my bed when I was little." Elsa chuckled lightly. "I know one thing, though…" the princess added with a smirk, "it's _ice_ to see her."

"Oh, hush, you silly thing!" Elsa softly exclaimed with a chuckle while quickly rubbing her nose against Anna's in an Eskimo kiss, causing the younger sister to giggle. Giving Anna a kiss on the cheek, she pulled away with a bright smile. The princess beamed with joy knowing that her big sister was happy.

Glancing at the clock, Elsa noticed the time and reluctantly began, "I would love nothing more than to keep talking with you, Anna, but I have a meeting with the council on Monday—it will be my first meeting with them as queen, so I'm very nervous about it—and if we want to keep our appointments tomorrow and on Saturday, then I simply must get all of this paperwork done." She motioned to the tall stack of papers on her desk.

"Oh." There was a pause before Anna's eyes widened. "Oh! Of course! I'm distracting you, I'm so sorry! I'll leave so you can get your work done." She started to retreat to the door, but Elsa grabbed her arm before she could get very far.

"No, no, no, don't apologize, you don't have to leave if you don't want to," the queen hastily reassured her sister. "I'm not throwing you out, I just have to get back to work that's all. You are welcome to stay if you wish, but I don't want you to think that you _have_ to stay locked up in here. If you _want_ to go outside, feel free to do so; don't let me hold you back."

Anna smiled. Not only had her older sister let her in, but she was asking her to stay while giving her the option of going outside if she wanted to… A year ago, Elsa wouldn't have done any of that. A _week_ ago, she wouldn't have done any of that.

"Okay, thanks, Elsa," the princess replied, taking the queen up on her offer. "I think I will go outside for a bit—I'll come right back, I'm not abandoning you—but now that the gates are open, I think it would be nice to take Blizzard out for a proper run."

"Blizzard?"

"My horse."

"I thought your horse's name was Kjekk?"

"That's the _boring_ name that Papa gave her," Anna replied, "but I think that Blizzard suits her _so much_ more than K… Kej… Ke—than _that_ name."

"How so?" Elsa asked while resting her chin in her hand.

"Well, first of all, I can actually pronounce it, duh, and second of all, she kind of… _acts_ like a blizzard. When she and I sprint around the inner courtyard, she just storms by, like… controlled chaos, with her hooves hitting the cobblestones like hail, and when she gallops around by herself, her tail flurries by like snowflakes in the wind."

There was a pause before Elsa commented, "You should be a poet."

"Pfft, nah, I could never be a poet," Anna scoffed. "Besides, I'm sure you would be a much better writer than I ever could."

"Don't sell yourself short," Elsa lovingly argued. "I'm sure that you could paint a picture with words if you put your mind to it."

"And what would I write about? The paintings in the gallery?" Anna joked.

"That would be a good start," Elsa replied with an encouraging smile. "Are any of your works in the gallery?"

"If you're referring to the scribbles that are on the underside of the chair in front of _Jeanne d'Arc_ , then yes," the princess sarcastically answered.

"You _know_ that's not what I meant," the queen retorted with a slight frown.

"None of my drawings are good enough to be hung in our gallery or _any_ gallery," Anna self-insulted while leaning against the couch, tracing one foot in the velvety carpet.

"Nonsense," the older sister firmly corrected, "you used to slip some of your drawings underneath my door all the time and every single one of them was beautiful. They are certainly much better than anything I could ever draw."

"You _remember_ them?" the younger woman asked, more out of embarrassment than joy, while tucking an invisible strand of hair behind her ear and bowing her head slightly.

"Yes, and more than that, I kept every single one." Elsa leaned by her sister on the couch and wrapped one arm around Anna's shoulders before stating quietly with a small smile, "Your stories and your drawings brought so much warmth and joy to my otherwise cold and lonely world." Anna didn't meet her gaze, but she listened. "You know, stepping between me and Hans' sword was a very large act of True Love, but slipping your drawings under my door were small acts of True Love that kept me from…" she hesitated; memories of razor sharp icicles flooded her head, "h-having _conversations_ with myself." Well… it was _part of_ the truth… it certainly wasn't a _lie…_ "So don't say such mean things about my little sister's art, okay? She is the best artist that I know, and I won't have her work slandered."

Anna leaned her head onto Elsa's shoulder and half-rolled half-turned herself into the older sister's arms to hug her, which was readily returned. "Okay," she mumbled. _But I still think I could do better._

"While you're out riding Blizzard, could you please find Kristoff and ask him if he would like to accompany us to my ice palace on Saturday?" Elsa requested.

"Okay," Anna replied.

"Thank you. I know that you would rather have some 'one-on-one sister-catch-up-time,' but I don't want to risk us getting lost or you falling off a cliff or something…" Elsa then added with a playful smirk, "and besides, I need to get to know the man who is courting my baby sister…"

"Shut up," Anna whined while burying her blushing face in her sister's shoulder.

"…and who may one day be the father of my nieces and/or nephews."

" **Shut up,** " Anna growled as her blush deepened and she poked Elsa in the side, causing the queen to squeak and jump slightly.

The older sister chuckled before patting the princess's back. "Alright, I'll stop."

"Thank you."

"In all seriousness, though, if you want to marry him one day, then as your older sister and guardian, I need to get to know him."

"I know." The princess glances at the clock. "I should go and find Kristoff and let you get back to work," she stated while pulling out of the hug.

"You're not going anywhere, sister," Elsa declared while blocking the door off with ice.

Anna's eyes widened. She thought that her sister had given her free choice to stay in or go out. "What are you talking about?" she asked while facing the queen. She wasn't scared of what Elsa was doing or going to do, mind you, she just curious and wanted to know what was going on, that's all.

"There's a toll on the door to my office, now," the older sister began with a smile, "you need to pay a fine if you want to pass."

"And what's the price?" the younger sister asked with a smile of her own, glad that this was just a joke.

"Well, you already gave me a warm hug, so all that's left is a kiss on the forehead, after that, the ice will melt and you may pass."

"Well, okay then." Elsa leaned forward slightly bowing her head, and Anna gave her forehead a quick kiss before wrapping her arms around the queen's neck in another hug. "That first hug was weak on my part so it didn't really count as a proper warm hug."

"Well, I'm certainly not complaining," Elsa stated with a smile while returning the hug with one arm and melting her ice with the other. She really didn't mean to startle Anna, she was just trying to be playful like she was before they were separated, that was all.

"I'll be right back okay? I'm just going to go talk to Kristoff and then Blizzard and I will race right back," Anna reassured the queen. "So don't even think of closing the door."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Elsa reassured in return.

After giving her older sister one final squeeze, the princess pulled away and bound to the door while singing,

"The gates are open

Like Elsa's door

I won't be lonely anymore

My sister's arms are open like the gates." She turned and gave her sister one final wave which was returned to her with a smile before the princess raced down the halls, her heart singing with her joy in knowing that the door would still be open when she returned.

Hopping onto the spiraling stair rail, she continued to sing as she slid down,

"For years, I've roamed these empty halls

Trapped within the castle walls

But I think it has been worth the wait." The past thirteen years were hard, yes, but Anna felt that it had paid off for her to continue to believe in her sister even when all logic told her to move on and not bother waiting anymore. And why? Because Elsa needed her and she needed Elsa, and they were finally reunited again! That probably wouldn't have happened if she had stopped waiting and believing.

Landing gracefully—for once—on her feet, the redhead sprinted to the door and exited the castle, running to the stables were Blizzard stood waiting in her stall, which was open with a bale of fresh hay sitting next to the off-white mare. The horse already had her saddle on since one of the grooms had taken her for a quick ride earlier. Anna ran and leapt onto the hay bale before jumping off of it and landing on Blizzard's back. With a quick snap of the reins, the mare began to trot out of her stall as the princess continued while gazing at the castle,

"It's been years since we've seen each other

It is totally strange

But I know we're ready for this change!" Seeing Elsa in one of the windows, she excitedly waved to her and was rewarded with a wave in return.

Beaming, she and Blizzard started to make their way to the gate.

"'Cause for the first time in forever

She and I have our sisters back

For the first time in forever

The future isn't so black."

Urging the mare to into a gallop, the princess threw her arms wide open as if they would start to fly as she sang,

"Don't know if I'm in Heaven or dreaming

But I'm somewhere in that zone

'Cause for the first time in forever…

I am not alone." She quickly grabbed hold of the reins once more and maneuvered her galloping horse through the crowds of people to keep from running into anyone. A few cries of "Look out!" and "Watch it!" met her ears as she dodged the passersby, and she threw her own call of "Sorry!" over her shoulder.

Exiting the crowds in the square and entering the not-as-congested streets, Anna remembered all that her sister had gone through and her face fell as Blizzard carried her quickly through the village.

"Elsa was alone all of those years

Concealing, not feeling, and filled with fear

Like me, feeling lonely and unloved." Being directed by her rider to take a shortcut through the countryside, the off-white mare galloped uphill. Blizzard stormed through the grassy slope like controlled chaos, her hooves hitting the ground like hail, and her off-white tail flurrying by like snowflakes in the wind. A small smile started to form on the princess's lips as she continued singing,

"But now it's time to reveal and feel

And give our poor hearts a chance to heal

It's time for us to get rid of our gloves." True, the younger sister didn't often wear gloves—and when she did, it was not for the same reason that Elsa wore them—but in her family, gloves represented concealing and not feeling, and though Anna didn't have any magical powers to hide, she did have her own secrets. Besides, they were sisters, and sisters acted alike.

Pulling on the reins, the two stopped and the princess turned Blizzard around so that she could see the castle. They were far away enough for the castle windows and doors to be just tiny specks, but Anna knew that somewhere in the huge stone structure that Elsa was working… with the door to her office wide open. The redhead remembered all that had changed in the past week; her sister had gone from fearing any and all touch to being okay with some physical contact, which was a huge improvement!

"We've built snowmen and shared warm hugs

Which is totally bizarre

Nothing like the lives we've led so far!" the princess sang with a proud smile—proud of her sister—as she flicked the reins, sending Blizzard into a gallop once more. Anna was beaming knowing that she and Elsa were finally on the same side of the door once more. Could this all be a dream from which she would wake up at any moment? Would Kai or Gerda soon call to her through the door of her room and tell her that it was time to get up? If it was, she never wanted to wake up.

"For the first time in forever

We are both on the same side

For the first time in forever

I know that Elsa will not hide.

And I know it is totally crazy

To doubt that this is real

But for the first time in forever…

I'm so happy I could squeal."

Back in the castle, Elsa still stood at the window where she watched Anna leave the courtyard and gallop through the streets. The young monarch couldn't quite believe that… she and her sister were actually together again. She opened the door and revealed her powers and… she was actually letting people close again. Well, not "people" meaning "crowds of complete strangers," but "people" meaning "Anna" but still, it was a start, it counted as something, and it was what really mattered. Tilting her head to the side in thought, she quietly sang,

"I've let her in…

I've let her see…

I'm fin'lly letting Anna close to me…"

She looked down at her bare hands, amazed that the key to controlling her powers was something as simple yet complex as love. Simple, honest love, pure and true.

"Reveal… and feel…

Forget the gloves

I don't need them now, not with Anna's love."

She looked up through the window, "My sister's here to stay."

Anna beamed atop Blizzard's back, "My sister's here to stay."

Elsa placed her open hands on the window, "She'll never run away."

Anna approached the inn, "She'll never run away."

Elsa struggled to open the window to her study, "With her here, it's always a—" the window swung open and the queen leaned out slightly, smiling, "—good day!"

Anna arrived at the inn and bid the innkeeper a—"Good day!" She leapt off her horse. "For the first time in forever—"

Elsa smiled as she looked at the cold magic twirling in her hands, "I've let her in, I've let her see—"

Anna raced out of the stables towards the entrance of the inn, "—I've got more than what I've dreamed of—"

Elsa created a snowflake pattern across the walls and ceiling of the room, "—I am letting Anna close to me—"

Anna entered and raced up the stairs, "—With Kristoff, Sven, Olaf, and you—"

"—Reveal—"

"—I've fin'lly found true love—"

Elsa made an ice vase filled with ice crocuses with a fond smile, "—Reveal and feel and let it go."

Anna made it to the top floor and raced down the hall, "—And since it won't end tomorrow

I will enjoy today

'Cause for the first time in forever…

For the first time in forever…

You are here to staaaaaaay! _**Oh!**_ " Anna squealed in surprise when a door suddenly opened and hit her in the face. "Ow." She placed one hand on the wall and the other on her forehead with her eyes squeezed shut; a masculine gasp was heard as a pair of strong yet gentle hands cupped her face.

"Anna!" a familiar voice exclaimed in genuine worry. "I am _so sorry,_ Anna. I didn't mean to hit you. I-I heard singing and I opened the door to see who it was, a-and it was you. Are you alright?"

The princess opened her teal eyes to have them be met by the Ice Master's own chocolate brown ones looking worriedly at her. "Don't worry, I'm okay," she reassured him with an encouraging smile, "I've always been told to not run indoors and to watch were I'm going, and it's finally come to bite me in the butt… or hit me on the head, I guess."

After visually confirming that the princess wasn't injured, the ice harvester lowered his hands to his sides once more. "If you're sure…"

"I am sure," she beamed at him, "but thanks for worrying."

"You're welcome, Princess," he stated with a smile of his own and a quick bow of his head. "So, your majesty," he began again in mock formality, "to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit on this fine summer's day?"

Playing along with him, Anna replied, "The Queen and I are going to the ice palace this Saturday, and her majesty requests that you come along so that we don't get lost and so that she can get to know my suitor, while I want you to come because I thought you would like a proper tour of her palace and…" she brushed an invisible strand of hair behind her ear with a slight blush dusting her cheeks as she finished, "I want to get to know you a bit more, too." Though it was true that Anna had originally hoped for some one-on-one sister-bonding catch-up time, she couldn't deny wanting to spend time with Kristoff as well.

"I want to get to know you a bit more, as well," he sheepishly admitted while rubbing the back of his neck. "Thank you for inviting me, Anna, of course I'll come."

"You're welcome, Kristoff" she shyly replied.

"What time should I come pick you up?"

"Well, I don't know my sister's schedule, but how about nine-thirty-ish? Would that work?"

"It works with me."

"Okeydokey." In the distance, the bell in the clock tower tolled the hour, making Anna gasp. "I should get going! I promised Elsa that I would be quick!" Quickly whirling round, she was about to sprint back down the corridor before she hastily turned back to Kristoff once more. "See you on Saturday."

"See you then," Kristoff replied in farewell, "and Anna… thanks again for the sled."

"You're welcome, Kristoff," she beamed.

"You didn't have to get me a new sled."

"But I promised I would," she paused, "and when I make a promise, I stick to it." Quickly dashing back over to him, planted a kiss on the Ice Master's cheek before hurrying down the corridor. "Bye, Kristoff!"

"Bye, Anna!" the ice harvester replied with a small wave and a blush on his cheeks.

Anna raced home with a joyful and thankful heart. Not only had she found true love of the romantic sort with Kristoff and the platonic true love of friends with Olaf and Sven, but she had also rediscovered the familial true love of family and sisters with Elsa once more.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Well, there's chapter eight. I hope you enjoyed it.

I remember when I first got my glasses (I'm near-sighted) I kept putting them on and taking them off again while looking at different things to see how they were supposed to look. When someone's standing a foot away and I don't have them on, their hair is just a blurred blob and their nose is almost nonexistent, but with my glasses on, I can see each individual strand of hair and they actually have a nose. I was so happy that I cried. I wanted Elsa to have a moment kind of like that.

Oh, what's that? I dropped the name of this fanfiction at least three times in this chapter? Why yes, I did; I'm glad you noticed! B-)

Please tell me what you thought of this chapter in the review box below. Also, a big thank you to those of you who have already left a review. :-D Y'all have _**no idea**_ how much joy your comments give me.

Thank you for reading.

God bless you and your day.

Sincerely, The Professor


	9. Chapter Nine: Thoughts Happy and Fearful

_**[TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains some dark and scary themes.]**_

 _ **Chapter Nine: Thoughts Happy and Fearful**_

 _Theme Songs: Flowered Rust by Myuu and Something's Wrong by Myuu_

For the remainder of the day, Anna stayed with Elsa in her office. Occasionally, the princess would force her older sister to take a break and they would talk about various things such as what time they would go to visit their parents' memorials or when Kristoff would pick them up on Saturday… or the icy decorations that weren't there when Anna left.

Now it was evening, and the two sisters were curled up on the couch in the queen's office, the fireplace in front of them housing a large, warm flame. While Elsa leaned against the corner of the couch where the arm rest met the back, Anna laid nestled against her side with her arms wrapped around the older sibling's waist in a sideways hug and her temple resting against Elsa's collarbone. The Snow Queen had one arm draped around her little sister's shoulders while the other rested on the arm that the princess had wrapped around her stomach.

The two watched as the flames leapt and danced in the fireplace, the bright red fingers playing with the logs and giving them fleeting caresses while slowly but steadily burning them. Underneath the burning wood lay a bed of embers which glowed like bronze armor in the noonday sun—reminding Elsa of her sister's coppery braids. The fire caused shadows to dance and play about the room like fairies, prancing across the walls and ceiling which were still decorated with the Snow Queen's ice from earlier.

Anna stared into the fire, memories—or rather altered memories—dancing through her head like the shadows.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Dark storm clouds hung suspended in the night sky like massive war ships, the rain acting like the spray of the waves, and the thunder and lightning mimicking the firing of canons. Every _**Boom!**_ of the canons echoed through the sky, while the lightning struck the tops of the mountains as if enacting the vengeance and rage of the mighty Thor. All the while, torrents of rain battered the roofs of the houses and castle below. The whole scene was chaotic yet majestic. Or rather, that is how the storm would have been perceived by the two princesses if they weren't so frightened. "El _saaa!_ " the youngest princess cried above the storm with her hands over her ears, "I'm scared!" Her teal eyes were squeezed shut, tears streaking her face as she curled up even more underneath the covers.

The mattress bounced a little as someone hurriedly crawled up to the crying princess. "It's okay, Anna," came a reply as the blankets were yanked away to reveal the weeping child and a pair of cold arms tightly embraced her, "I got you." Truth be told, Elsa was quite scared as well, but she had to be brave for her little sister. She just had to be. "I got you, Anna," she quickly whispered as she held Anna in her arms while trying to keep back her own tears, "I got you, I got you, I got you…"

" _Elsaaa_ ," Anna whimpered into the front of the blonde's nightgown, "I don' like it when the sky's angry."

"I don't like it, either," the older sister admitted.

Suddenly, the door to their room swung open. "Girls, are you alright?"

"Mama!" the two cried out simultaneously.

"Mama, we're scared!" Anna wailed.

Their mother didn't waste any time and quickly crawled into bed with them, wrapping her arms around her precious children. Anna wrapped her arms around her mother while burying her face in the woman's nightgown, and Elsa huddled close to her sister as she hugged the girl from behind. Queen Idunn pulled the discarded blanket over the three of them before holding them gently yet securely in her arms once more.

An especially loud boom of thunder resonated through the castle and shook the windows, causing Anna to start crying once more. "Mama, I'm scared! Make it stop!"

"I'm sorry, Anna, but I can't make it stop," her mother gently told her while rubbing one hand up and down her back.

"But you're the queen," Elsa pointed out, finally letting her tears stream down her face since Anna wouldn't be able to see them.

"Being queen doesn't mean that I have the power to tell the storm what to do, Elsa," Idunn corrected while rubbing her free hand on her eldest daughter's back. "Only God can do that. But as king and queen, your father and I do have the power to make sure that the both of you have a roof over your heads, and food and drink to keep your tummies full, and clothes to keep you warm, but most of all," she smiled softly, "as your _mother_ , I have the power to give you warm hugs and cuddles until you fall asleep again."

"And keep the nightmares away?" the older sister asked.

"Yes, Elsa."

"And make sure that the monsters don' get us?" the younger sister asked in turn.

"Yes, Anna, that, too. Now, I want the both of you to try and get some sleep, alright? I shall be right here the whole time, so don't be frightened."

"We'll try," Elsa answered for the two of them.

"Okay," Idunn pressed a loving kiss first on Anna's head and then Elsa's before whispering, "I love you, my silly little reindeer."

"Love you, too, silly big reindeer," the two princesses replied at the same time.

The three giggled a little before their mother whispered, "Goodnight, dear ones."

"Goodnight, Mama."

"Night-night, Mama."

Anna felt a pair of lips gently pressing against the back of her head before a whisper met her ear, "I love you, Sunshine."

"Love you, too, Elsie," Anna whispered in reply before she felt her sister giving her a loving squeeze around her middle. The younger princess smiled and her eyes began to droop, she didn't fight it as her mother started to hum a soft lullaby and the storm was beginning to wear itself out. She wasn't scared as the last few bolts of lightning and thunder made their presence known… because her mother and sister were with her.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

A sad smile graced the princess's face as she continued to gaze into the fire.

She missed her mother…

She had missed Elsa…

Anna gave the queen next to her a squeeze around her middle, and it was acknowledged by a cool hand moving from the princess's shoulder to run through her ginger bangs, brushing them out of her face. Looking over at Elsa, she was met with her sister giving her a loving smile, which she returned before they both continued to idly watch the fireplace. The slight coolness of Elsa's fingertips contrasted with the warmth which radiated from the hearth as the older sister's digits continued to slowly stroke through the younger sibling's strawberry blonde bangs.

Reveling in the affection that she had been starved of for years, Anna hoisted her feet up onto the couch and leaned more of her weight against her sister before murmuring, "Elsa?"

"Hmm?"

"Can you feel different temperatures?" She looked up at her sister. "Like the cold?"

"Yes," the Snow Queen answered without looking away from the fire, "I can feel different temperatures, such as the cold, but the cold doesn't bother me."

"Does heat bother you? Like, will you melt if you get too warm?"

"No, I won't melt," Elsa replied with a smile, "but if I'm too hot it will bother me as much as it would anyone else."

"Oh, darn," Anna jokingly began with a playful smile, "that means that I can't melt you to steal the throne."

"Oh, hush, you little goof," the other woman retorted in her own playful manner as she poked her sister in the side, causing her to giggle.

"Do you like the warmth?" Anna asked after her giggling subsided.

There was a pause as Elsa looked her sister in the eye with a loving smile, "Yes. The warmth always reminded me of you and your hugs, so, as ironic as it is, warm has always been my favorite temperature." She gave her sister a squeeze to emphasize her point.

Anna chuckled before closing her eyes and snuggling closer to her sister. "Elsa, you're the funniest snow queen I've ever met… Well… you're the _only_ snow queen I've ever met. But still! If I ever meet other snow queens, I bet they wouldn't be as funny as you."

"Didn't I tell you to hush, you little goof?" the queen asked in a chuckle before giving the princess a kiss on the forehead. When there was no response from the younger woman after several moments, Elsa quietly asked, "Anna, are you sleepy?"

A small nod of the head in the affirmative was the only reply.

"Well then, let's head to bed."

The queen started to sit up but was stopped when Anna tightened her hold on her sister and gave a small whine in protest, "Nooooo…"

"Anna, come on," Elsa tiredly stated, "it's getting late, we should get to bed soon if we want to leave on time tomorrow."

" _Noooooooo…_ " the younger sibling whined once more, "wanna stay here like this."

"Anna," the queen began again, her patience wearing thin, "if you don't get up now, I'll have no other choice but to carry you, and I cannot guarantee a smooth journey."

"Okay," Anna replied with a smile. She figured that if her sister was bluffing then they would stay where they were, and if she wasn't… well, she wouldn't protest to Elsa carrying her like when they were little. So either way, she would win.

Elsa huffed in frustration. "Alright, fine, you asked for it. Come here and sit on my lap." Obeying, Anna sat up and they repositioned themselves so that the princess was sitting in the queen's lap.

"Okay, now hold onto my neck," the older sister instructed as she slid one arm underneath Anna's knees and the other around her waist, holding her gently and—she hoped—securely. The younger sister did as she was told and wrapped her arms around her older sibling's neck.

Scooting to the edge of the couch, Elsa held her sister tightly and murmured, "Okay, one, two, three," and quickly stood up… or rather, she tried to. About half a second after her bottom left the couch, she lost balance and the two fell back onto the couch with startled yelps. "Okay, let's try something else." The Snow Queen thought for a moment. "Get up, Anna, and stand on the couch."

"What for?" the princess asked while hoping off her sister's lap and stepping up onto the sofa.

"Remember when I used to give you piggyback rides?" the queen asked while standing up herself.

"Mhm."

"Well, we're going to try that instead." Standing with her back to her sister, Elsa stood as close to the couch as possible and Anna wrapped her arms securely around her shoulders while the older sister put her hands behind the younger sibling's knees. Bracing one leg forward and bowing a little at the hip, Elsa instructed, "Okay, now on the count of three, jump onto my back and hold on tight, okay?"

"Okay."

"And please do try not to strangle me like you did when we were little."

"Oh, well, since you asked so nicely…"

They both chuckled. "Okay. One… two… _three!_ "

One jump later, Elsa had her arms locked under her sister's knees and Anna had maintained her grip on Elsa's shoulders. They wobbled a bit as the queen tried desperately to maintain her balance. "Whoa… okay… I think we're good. Now, let's get to bed, okay?"

"Okeydokey."

"There are several doors that we'll need to open, so I'm going to need you to be my hands, alright?"

"I'm on it."

The two slowly made their way back to their room; Elsa carried her sister securely on her back while Anna opened every single door for her. Fortunately, their room was on the same floor as the queen's office, which was a relief for the older sister since—"Oh, goodness, Anna… you're a lot heavier than I remember," the queen huffed.

"Of course I am, Elsa, I grew up."

Nothing was said for several moments as the weight of the princesses words sank in, making the once happy atmosphere turn melancholy, and their smiles slowly disappear.

"Hey," Anna quietly began, breaking the silence, "where do snowmen keep their money?"

After thinking for a moment, the older sister replied, "I don't know, where?"

The princess smirked before answering, "In a _snowbank._ "

"Pffffft…" Elsa quietly scoffed in a laugh, "that was horrible."

"The mark of a good pun."

Reaching the door to their room, Anna reached forward with one hand and turned the knob before pushing the door open so they could enter.

After changing into their nightgowns and saying their prayers, the two went to bed.

Despite what logic and reason told them, they were both still afraid that the other would disappear at any moment and that the past several days would end up being just a pleasant dream, so they agreed to cuddle in the princess's bed.

The two lay facing each other, holding their hands between them. Elsa had insisted that Anna lay on the side of the bed closest to the fire, since she wanted her to be warm.

"What time are we leaving again?" the younger sister asked with a yawn.

"We're getting up at seven-thirty and leaving at eight-thirty," the Snow Queen replied, knowing that the princess wouldn't be able to get up at the older sister's normal waking time of six.

"Okay," Anna acknowledged with another yawn, eyes drooping sleepily. "Night-night, Elsie."

"Goodnight, Sunshine," Elsa murmured before pressing a light kiss against her little sister's bangs. "I love you."

"Love you, too," the princess sleepily sighed before nestling herself further in the cozy blankets of the bed.

Elsa laid completely still as she waited for her sister's breathing to grow deep and steady. Upon hearing the princess let out a rather not-very-princess-like snore, she began to slowly— _ever_ so slowly—move her hands from the younger sibling's grasp. Over the past thirteen years, the Snow Queen had grown very self-conscious of where her hands were and if they were being touched since they were the main point of exit for her powers, and thus, she would grow especially afraid if her hands were touched by someone or if she was touching something that could be easily damaged by ice, cold, or the water in snow. She was trying to grow out of that habit by occasionally holding Anna's hand for a short period time, but she still wasn't comfortable with holding hands for longer than a few seconds. She was used to hiding her hands, not… this.

After several minutes, she finally slipped the last cold digit from her sister's warm, protective grasp. Elsa then let out a barely audible sigh of relief—her sister's warm fingers were safe from the cold—before closing her eyes and slowly drifting off to sleep.

All the while, the steadily shrinking flames in the hearth struggled to continue their dance as their fuel started to run out and a cold draft began to chill their slowly dying coals.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Standing tall and regal in the ball room, the very picture of sophisticated grace, Elsa conversed with her councilors, advisors, and judges. This was her first time speaking to them as their leader and queen, and so far it was going rather smoothly. All the introductions had been made and they were about to discuss matters of importance about the kingdom.

"If I may ask, your majesty, but… exactly _why_ did you freeze all of Arendelle?" one judge boldly questioned.

"It was an accident," she honestly replied, "I was scared."

"Do you know how much damage you caused the kingdom with that monstrosity of a blizzard?" a councilor snapped, the queen's answer to the previous question completely ignored and forgotten.

So much for things going smoothly.

"Well, I—"

"What do you intend to do about the damage you caused our local agriculture and economy?" another court member impatiently demanded.

"I—"

"Oh, I don't like the looks of this, my friends," an advisor commented to his colleagues. "I always thought it was a bad idea to let a _woman_ govern a country, _but to have a woman with_ _ **magic**_ _rule?!_ _**It is preposterous!**_ "

They all nodded and muttered in agreement.

"The queen has magic that means she is a sorceress!" one advisor proclaimed.

"We _all know_ what we do with witches in this kingdom, don't we, gentlemen?"

They all nodded and voiced their agreement a little louder while encircling their queen.

"Yes, the same thing we do to _all monsters_."

"No…" the Snow Queen whimpered with her gloved hands clutched in front of her while slowly backing away from her subjects who were encircling her like wolves encircling their prey. "Please… it was an accident… I never wanted it to happen… I'm _sorry_."

"Sorry doesn't cut it," a judge sneered.

"But I bet this will," came a familiar voice from the crowds.

Elsa craned her neck to see a patch of bright red hair coming towards her. "Anna?" she murmured before shouting, "Anna! Anna, I'm over here! You have to tell them that it was all an accident."

The owner of the red hair emerged from the crowds with a drawn sword in their hand.

Elsa gasped.

"Tell me, gentlemen," the redhead asked, holding up the weapon to admire it, "do you think _this_ will cut it?"

"Oh, it certainly will, Prince Hans."

"We're so glad that you're here to straighten things out."

"You would make a _much_ better ruler that this… this _witch!_ "

At that, they lunged at her, and Elsa took off. She ran from the ballroom and through the many hallways and corridors trying to lose them, but her legs felt heavy, like they were moving through glue instead of air. Rounding one corner, she found a mirror and looked into it.

Her reflection was skewed. Her usually long, blond hair was now short and black and stood up in a sort of swooping cone shape, her once pale skin was now a sickly bluish-grey, and lastly… her eyes were crimson.

Where had she seen this before…?

Suddenly turning to look behind her, she saw the council members catching up to her, carrying pitchforks and torches and being led by none other than Hans.

She continued to run down the halls, her legs heavy as lead, until she came to her room and quickly locked herself inside. It was hard to tell if the mob had run past or where still approaching, but that was soon forgotten when there was a fierce banging upon the door.

 _ **BANG! BANG! BANG!**_

The Snow Queen jumped back in fright.

"I know you're in there, Elsa," a slightly high-pitched, yet demonic voice called to her through the wooden barrier. The door knob rattled. "Please, let me in… Come on… just open the door…" It—who or whatever it was—began to scratch and paw at the door, trying to find a way inside. "I know what you diiiihiiid…" it suddenly proclaimed in a sing-song voice. "I'm coming to geeeet youuuuuuuuu," it trailed off from a song into a low growl.

Slowly backing away from the door, the queen whirled around to try and escape… only to be met with the sight of her sister's frozen form staring at her with cold and bitter eyes.

"Anna!" the queen gasped in shock as she approached. "Oh, Anna… No… No," she pleadingly whimpered. "Please, no… Forgive me, Anna… Please, forgive me."

Tears formed in her eyes as she reached up to cup her sister's icy face in her hands, but she was stopped when the princess roughly grabbed her wrists, a look of pure disgust claiming her features. After being shoved away by her sibling, Elsa watched in shock as Anna slowly walked over to the door and took the doorknob in her frozen fingers. The ice princess pierced the Snow Queen's heart with a hate filled glare as she slowly rasped, "Long… live… the queen." She then threw open the door and a massive wolf made of jagged ice lunged at Elsa with a loud snarl.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Eyes quickly opening, Elsa was met with the sight of the dark bedroom… and a small layer of snow on the blanket surrounding her. She tried to think of Anna and her love for her little sister to make the snow dissipate, but only a very small amount of snow vanished, for her fear and the memory of her nightmare was still fresh and persistent in her brain.

Trying desperately to think only of Anna, but failing due to her thoughts being held captive by the night-terror, she rolled over onto her right side in mild frustration. There, she was met with the sight of her sibling mildly snoring in her sleep. Upon noticing that the princess's body was huddled in a tight ball underneath the blankets while a small pile of snow rested on her messy red hair, the queen realized that her sister was cold due to the snow.

Her snow.

Anna could protest against being cold as much as she liked during the day for Elsa's sake, but while in the depths of slumber, her subconscious reaction of curling in on herself betrayed her.

Desperate to try and make the snow vanish, Elsa closed her eyes and focused on her sister's breathing while slowly reciting her new motto in her head in time to the redhead's breaths.

Breathe in. _Reveal…_ Breathe out. _…and feel._ Breathe in. _Anna's…_ Breathe out. _…here for me._ Breathe in. _Reveal…_ Breathe out. _…and feel._ She was doing quite well so far, as some of the snow was starting to melt, but… Breathe in. _Anna's…_ Breathe out. _…here for me…_ the breathing stopped.

Elsa's brow furrowed and more snow fell before she worriedly sat up. Cautiously putting her fingers in front of the princess's mouth and nose, she tried to see if she could feel Anna's breath… but she felt none.

Her hand began to tremble in slowly rising panic and the snow started to fall more thickly until the princess gave a sudden and loud snore—causing the queen to pull her hand away in surprise—and rolled over onto her back before breathing normally once more.

Anxiously brushing a loose strand of blond hair behind her ear, Elsa laid back down again, still keeping a careful eye on her sister. Some of the snow had melted in her relief, but the woman was still rather scared—and not just of the dream anymore—so, after gaining some courage, she carefully started to scoot closer. Studying Anna's face for a few moments, the queen made certain that the princess was fast asleep before slowly and carefully resting the side of her head on the young woman's chest in search of the redhead's heartbeat. Upon finding it, she closed her eyes and allowed her stiff muscles to try and relax.

Some snow started to melt.

Scooting a little bit closer, the woman breathed a small sigh of relief as the princess's heartbeat played her a soft and constant lullaby, reassuring her that her sister wasn't a statue of ice and that she still _alive_ in general. _Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump._ A tiny patch of snow disappeared with each pump of blood through Anna's veins. Elsa was so focused on listening to the heart beating against her ear that she didn't notice that the princess was waking up until she felt warm hands on her head and shoulder.

Eyes opening wide in surprise at the sudden contact, she sat up slightly and raised her head. The hand that the princess had rested on the queen's head moved so that it was draped over the back of Elsa's neck as she raised her head to look at her younger sister.

"Mm… Elsa?" Anna groggily murmured as her eyes opened a little. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry, Anna," the older woman quickly and anxiously whispered while more snow started to fall, "I didn't mean to wake you. You had stopped breathing and I wanted to make sure that you were okay. I'm sorry that I'm making you cold, I've been trying to make the snow go away but it's not working. I'll move further away if I'm just making you colder." She made to move away from Anna.

"Shhhh," Anna quietly hushed while gently pulling her sister closer so that the queen lay with the side of her head against the princess's left arm, which curled around to rest on the messy blonde hair, and her right arm draped over the older sibling's shoulder, resting on her upper back. "You're okay, Elsa," she softly reassured the agitated sister while resting her left cheek against her forehead. "I got you."

At that, Elsa carefully slid her right arm under the pillow that they now shared and wrapped her left arm around Anna's waist before scooting a bit closer once more, tangling her bare feet with the sock covered ones of her sibling. Closing her eyes, she took in a deep breath before slowly letting it out in a sigh of relief as she melted into the comforting embrace of her sister.

Anna pressed a quick kiss to her sister's brow before falling asleep once more and Elsa soon followed her into a land of happier dreams…

By now, the snow was gone.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Welp, there's chapter nine. I hope you liked it.

The inspiration for the last scene was inspired by the comics _Pulse_ and _Heartbeat_ by aka post dot tumblr dot com (take out the spaces). Both comics were written in a different language, but in my opinion, you don't need to read the text in order to understand what's going on.

Also, on a side note, the inspiration for Anna's nightmare in chapter six came from a comic posted by laikaken dot tumblr dot com (again, take out the spaces), also know as candied-dreams dot com. The name of the comic is _WTF Hans, you d*** bag._ (I know, I don't like the language in the title either, but I assure you that the comic itself has no foul language.)

So yeah, one place where I get ideas and inspiration is by looking at fan art (the more platonic Snow Sister fluff the better).

Please tell me what you thought of this chapter in the review box below.

Thank you so much for reading.

God bless you and your day.

Sincerely, The Professor


	10. Chapter Ten: Mama and Papa

_**Chapter Ten: Mama and Papa**_

 _Theme Song: Lament by Myuu_

At six o'clock the next morning, Elsa woke up, still being held in Anna's arms. Since they were supposed to get up at seven thirty and the queen had nothing else scheduled for today except visiting their parents' memorials, she figured that there would be nothing wrong with sleeping in a little. Closing her eyes again, she inhaled deeply, breathing in her sister's scent, before letting the breath out in a tired sigh.

After a few moments, Anna grumbled and shifted a bit in her sleep, rolling onto her back and pulling Elsa with her so that the side of the older sister's head was lay in the gap between the princess's shoulder and head, her arms still around the younger sister.

The queen smiled and let her mind wander to a happy memory…

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

It was past midnight, and the whole room was covered in a thick blanket of darkness. In the hearth, the fire which was lit every night to keep the two girls warm had long since gone out, leaving only a few glowing embers amongst the ashes.

The sky was not awake tonight; the aurora borealis which usually lit up the sky was absent. Even the stars were hidden by the clouds and the moon was new, rendering the sky, and the bedroom of the princesses, to be filled with complete and utter darkness.

The lack of the normal nightlights combined with the dying embers glaring like eyes in the inky blackness was enough to convince the two sisters to cuddle in the older sibling's bed—which was farthest from the fireplace—to keep each other safe from the monster hiding in the chimney…

They normally cuddled almost every night anyway.

"Is the monster still in the chimney, Elsa?" Anna asked in a whispered while clinging to her sister's nightgown.

The crown princess gulped. "Uh-huh," she murmured while holding onto her little sister. Snowflakes drifted down in her fear as she stared into the many glowing orange eyes of the beast which lay crouching in the hearth. She could see the outlines of its horns in the darkness where it lay constantly ready to pounce.

One of the embers finally went out, causing the older sister to quietly gasp as the snow started to descend more quickly.

"What is it, Elsa?" the younger sibling inquired.

"It blinked one of its eyes," the snow princess shuddered softly.

"What are we going to do?" Anna asked in a shudder of her own.

"We need to go find Papa," Elsa shakily replied before slowly reaching for the corner of the blankets so they could get out of bed. Once their bare feet met the cold floor, they began to slowly make their way to the door hand in hand. The older sister let Anna go in front of her while she constantly checked over her shoulder to make sure they weren't being followed, and once they made it out of their room, they ran all the way to their father's office.

Seeing a light shining from the slightly ajar door, the duo quickly rushed inside and closed it behind them, leaning against it as they gasped for breath.

"What are you two doing up this late past your bedtime?" their father calmly yet sternly questioned from his place at his desk.

"There… was… a monster… in… the hearth…" Anna replied between breaths.

"We… were scared… so we… couldn't sleep…" added Elsa.

King Agdar smiled fondly at his two little girls before sighing and putting down the contract that he had been working on. "Come here, you two," he stated while beckoning them with a hand. The two sisters rushed to his side and attached themselves to his legs. "Would you like to sit on my lap?" the king asked them. They both nodded and Anna held up her arms towards her father, silently asking to be picked up. Agdar picked up his youngest daughter and placed her on one knee while Elsa climbed up the other. "Do you need any help?" he asked, stretching his free hand out to her.

"I got it," she replied with determination.

Once the two were situated on their father's lap, the king held them close to him so their heads rested against his chest. Leaning back in his chair, Agdar began to sing a quiet lullaby to his children, "You are my little princesses, high up in a castle, upon a green, green hill…"

The two sisters held hands as they leaned against their father's chest, the monster in the hearth forgotten as his song and steady heartbeat lulled them to sleep.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Smiling to herself at the fond memory, Elsa heard the clock tower sound the time… Six forty-five. _Well,_ she thought to herself, _I should probably get up now._ Carefully sitting up, she tried her best to not wake up her sister, who still had some time left to sleep in, but she woke up anyway with a tired grumble.

"Good morning, Anna," the queen quietly greeted her sister.

"Morning," the princess mumbled in return while wiping a trail of drool off of her chin with the back of her hand. "Is it time to get up?"

"Almost," Elsa replied, "you still have about forty-five minutes left to sleep if you want to."

"Are you getting up now?"

"Mhm."

"Then I'll get up, too," Anna yawned as she sat up. The older sister could not help but chuckle at the sight of her sibling's wild bed head. "What?" the princess asked. Elsa just pointed to the top of her sister's head and Anna reached a hand up to try and tame her wild red hair. When her attempts to straighten out her hair failed, the Snow Queen chuckled once again. "You think _this_ is funny? You should see _your_ hair," Anna retorted before using both hands to ruffle Elsa's just as messy hair, causing them both to descend into laughter.

After getting dressed—in black, as fitting for visiting their parents' memorials—and taming their equally unruly hair, Anna followed Elsa to her office, and after the queen had checked her schedule to make sure she had nothing left over from the previous day, the two made their way to the dining room for their breakfast.

As queen, Elsa's formal place was at the head of the long table with Anna seated at her right hand, but she instead sat at Anna's right hand with the princess seated in her normal spot.

As the two were talking over their meal, Kai, the head butler, came in with a small silver tray on which sat what appeared to be a letter. "A letter from the Southern Isles has just arrived, your Majesty," he stated in his deep voice while holding the tray out to her.

The other day, Elsa sent her letter to King Viktor on the clipper ship, the _S.S. Nord Vind_ , which is Norwegian for "North Wind."

I'm sure that you've at least heard of clipper ships from your history books, but I'll tell you what they are in case you do not know or probably forgot.

A clipper ship was a ship that was much faster than normal vessels due to them having more sails and being much sleeker. While a normal merchant ship could travel about 150 miles in one day, clipper ships could travel a little over 250 miles in a day. This made it possible for the letter to be sent and a response to be returned in only a couple days considering how far it was from Arendelle to the Southern Isles.

Elsa's eyes widened ever so slightly as she internally gasped. _The king wrote back! Oh, please, God, don't let there be war._ "Thank you, Kai," she managed to calmly reply while taking the envelope. The butler gave a small nod and left.

"The Southern Isles?" Anna repeated in slight indignation, "Why are _they_ writing to us?"

"It's the response to my letter that I sent to King Viktor concerning Prince Hans," the Snow Queen explained. "I told him what his youngest brother did and that, as a result, Hans is banned from our kingdom and our trade is broken off, and I also told him that I don't want war despite everything that happened… I hope he doesn't want war either."

"Why would he start a war with us? What did we ever do to him?" the princess inquired.

"Well, we _did_ send Hans back to his home locked in the brig of his own ship under watch of his and our guards, Anna," Elsa explained. "Royalty can be very nitpicky about what happens to members of their family or to the nobles in their court, and most of the time, for good reason—as you and I have recently experience firsthand. That being said, however, I wouldn't be surprised if one day the whole world went to war just because one nobleman got shot."

"What kind of nobleman?"

"I don't know what kind. A Barron or Duke or something, it's not important right now."

"Still, unless King Viktor had a hand in trying to kill us, why would he wanna get into a fight if _Hans_ was the one who started it? Did my back hurt his knife or something? Er, sword?" the younger sister sarcastically asked. Then she remembered that Hans's sword _did_ break against her frozen hand. "Oh, wait…"

"I don't know, Anna, I just pray to God that this isn't a declaration of war."

"Amen," the younger sibling solemnly agreed.

The queen opened the envelope and grasped Anna's right hand tightly in her left as she began to read aloud:

"'From King Viktor of the Southern Isles to the Most Merciful Queen Elsa of Arendelle:

"'Dear Madam, My Sister, Greetings!—'"

"'Sister'?!" Anna interrupted. "What does he mean 'sister'? You're _my_ sister! What is he talking about?!"

"Relax, Anna," Elsa reassured, "monarchs of different kingdoms often address each other by 'brother' or 'sister' to show respect… and also because royalty have intermarried so much that it's hard to keep straight who is who's cousin."

"Oh…" Anna stated with a quizzical look, "I see." There was a pause before the princess asked with wide eyes, "Hans isn't our cousin, is he?"

"He wasn't when I last looked at our family tree, now may I continue reading?"

"Sure thing."

"'First, I must give you my congratulations on your coronation as Queen and my wishes that your reign may be long and full of peace and plenty;

"'Second, I must give my deepest and most sincere apologies for the inexcusable behavior of my youngest brother, Prince Hans, and I apologize for sending him, of all people, in my place to honor the invitation to your coronation.

"'Prince Hans is known by our family for his craftiness, however, in the many months preceding your coronation, his cunning had diminished to some extent and his behavior appeared to have improved greatly. Upon hearing that I required someone to send to Arendelle as my ambassador for your coronation, he did not cease to beseech me, begging me to let him prove that he had indeed changed, an—'"

"'Indeed changed,' my foot," Anna quietly interrupted in a scoff.

"'—and in my softness of heart, I granted him the task. I cannot even attempt to begin to describe to you how grieved I am in this discovery that my brother has never once abandoned his cunning and foxlike ways, and how ashamed I am in my decision to let him go at all.

"'Regarding war,—'" the queen looked heavenward and offered up one last quick prayer, "Oh, dear God, please let us have peace."

"Amen again," Anna agreed once more while squeezing her sister's hand more tightly.

Elsa continued to read the letter: "'Regarding war, I also have a hatred for conflict and bloodshed and regard Peace as my second Bride," the two began to smile, and their smiles continued to grow as Elsa read on, "and I promise your Majesty that the Southern Isles shall never take up arms against fair Arendelle for as long as I and our mutual hatred of war continue to live on this Earth.'"

Immediately, Anna began to squeal in her joy, practically bouncing in her seat, and Elsa couldn't help but join her a moment later. Also, in the slightly open door leading from the dining room to the kitchen, Kai, Gerda, and a few other servants could be seen quietly celebrating in the good news.

The princess looked over the queen's shoulder with a smile on her face as the older sister continued to read with her own smile: "'Furthermore, seeing as how I was the one who gave Prince Hans the permission and ability to voyage to your kingdom and cause such trouble, this regicidal assassination attempt was just as much a fault of mine as it was of my brother—if not more so—and I humbly accept the ending of our trade as a punishment far more merciful than what terrible penalty I am truly worthy. I also meekly implore your Royal Highness that you will forgive me this involuntary sin that I have committed as you have so graciously forgiven the voluntary sin of my brother. In addition, I also beg the forgiveness of the Beautiful Princess Anna, who was also a victim of this terrible crime, and I beseech that she would also pardon my brother and pursue to court a prince or gentleman opposite of Prince Hans in regard to purity of heart. Even Ice Master Kristoff Bjordman, of whom you mentioned in your retelling of what happened, is, in my humble opinion, much more a gentleman than Hans and far more worthy of the hand of a princess as beautiful and compassionate as Princess Anna, despite him being of common background. But whom the Princess marries is her business, not mine, and I apologize if my suggestion be not welcome, and again, beg her forgiveness.'" Smirking, Elsa cast a sideways glance at her sister, who was blushing slightly.

"'Concerning your recounting of the past thirteen years that have passed between you and your sister, the Princess,'" the monarch continued, "I cannot help but extend my deepest sympathy to the both of you and wish that you may grow as close as you were in childhood once more.

"'Lastly, worry not, I do not think you a monster or a sorceress because of your powers over ice and snow; the tragedies of which you told me, in my humble judgement, seem to be accidents, and thus, do not earn you the title of Monster since you did all in your power to protect your family and your people. My brothers and I had an uncle whom we loved greatly—the late Prince Dan Holger of the Southern Isles—who was born with the magical ability to create, control, and manipulate fire, and he also would ironically cause accidental burns in his occasional fear of hurting others. I just wished that I had been able to see but a glimpse of your magic, which sound as beautiful as your fair kingdom.

"'From one elder sibling to another, I understand your reasoning and choices and desire the safety of our younger siblings and the peace between our kingdoms as fervently as you do. I also thank your Royal Highness once more, from the very depths of my soul, for forgiving my brother—I know that not all rulers in the same situation would be as merciful as you have been—and ask once more that you forgive me, and that your beautiful sister may forgive my brother and I as well.

"'God save your Royal Highnesses!

"'Signed, Your Brother, King Viktor of the Southern Isles, Farewell.'"

Putting down the letter, the Snow Queen gave her sister a joyful hug, which the princess gladly returned while stating, "Thank God that we won't be going to war."

"Yes, thank God," her sister agreed.

Anna gave her sister another squeeze before pulling away and noticed how their joy contrasted the darkness of their apparel. Her smile slowly disappeared as she commented, "I… forgot that we were going to visit Mama and Papa this morning. It feels kinda weird to be so happy now."

Elsa's smile vanished as well. "It does, doesn't it?" Folding the letter and holding it in one hand while tapping the parchment against the other hand, the queen thought for a moment before stating, "I think that they would be happy about this, though," she looked at her sister, "and I think that they would want us to be happy about this as well. But they would also say that there is a time and a place for everything, and that being said… I think it's time we got going."

The princess nodded in agreement, and with that, they both rose from the table.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Looming in the distance, the memorial stones of the late king and queen of Arendelle stood tall and somber as the current queen and crown princess approached. The princess had her arm linked with her sister's as they walked in their black garb—the same clothes that they wore on the day of their parents' memorial, whether they went or not—and snowflakes gently descended as the two drew near. When they were close enough, they parted, and each placed a bouquet of flowers at the feet of the stones—Anna at their mother's and Elsa at their father's—before drawing back and holding hands as they paid their respects to their parents.

Despite what some might think, they did not hate their parents.

When the two sisters separated, Elsa and King Agdar had an ongoing agreement; if the princess thought that she could control her powers and not hurt her sister, then they would try and work towards reuniting them, but if she felt that she couldn't control them, then they would stay separated.

It was always Elsa's call.

Her father asked her everyday if she felt it was safe to spend some time with Anna.

She said no.

Soon he would ask every week.

She would say no.

He began to ask every month or two.

She would still say no.

Whenever Agdar asked if she felt it was safe to be with Anna again, the snow princess would always say no… but whenever he asked if she _wanted_ to be with Anna again… she would always say yes.

There would be times when Anna would cry because she couldn't be with her sister, and Queen Idunn would hug her and try to comfort her as best she could, but her tears would still break the woman's heart.

There would also be times when Elsa would weep because she missed her sister, and King Agdar would reach out to hug her, only for the princess to shrink back—not wanting to accidentally hurt her papa—which would break the man's heart.

Agdar and Idunn loved their two little girls so much that the sight of them so sad and broken brought tears to their eyes which they only shed when the two weren't looking. As their parents and the leaders of the kingdom, they had to put on a brave face.

They didn't know what else to do.

Unfortunately, the love that the king and queen had for their children wasn't always enough to stop the dark thoughts that the two would occasionally have…

Like right now.

As they stood there, Elsa's head was filled with anxious thoughts. Would her parents be proud of her if they could see her now? Would her father approve of the way she was running the kingdom? Would they think that she still needed to "conceal; don't feel?" How would they have berated her for freezing the kingdom and Anna's heart? She could hear their voices already… _"Elsa! What have you done?! This is what we've been trying to avoid for thirteen years!"_

Anna wasn't fairing any better. She wondered what her parents would say to her about Hans if they were here now. They would most likely say the same things that Elsa had been saying… but worse and in a less gentle way. They would scold her about being reckless and immature and say, _"Why can't you be more mature like Elsa? Why can't you think before you act like Elsa? Why can't you be more like Elsa?"_ She would never blame Elsa for any of it, though, because her sister loved her just the way she was with all of her quirks, and besides… all was forgiven.

Noticing that snowflakes were still falling, the princess seemed to read her sister's thoughts and playfully nudged the other's shoulder with her own and offered a reassuring smile while stating, "They would be _so_ proud of you."

"You really think so?" the queen asked while facing the redhead.

"I _know_ so," Anna replied, giving the blonde's hand a squeeze. "They would be _so proud_ that you've learned how to control your powers, that you're being an _amazing_ queen, and that you're being an even _awesome-er_ big sister."

Elsa chose to ignore the fact that "awesome-er" wasn't a word and instead squeezed her sibling's hand in return with a grateful smile. "Thank you," she murmured. "Mama and Papa would be so proud of you, too." Anna made her skepticism of that statement known by giving a quick sideways glance with a small shrug of her shoulders. "I mean it, Anna," the older sister reaffirmed. "They would be so proud of you and all the brave things you've done."

"You mean reckless things?" the younger sister questioned.

"Well… yes, a lot of them were reckless," Elsa admitted, "but many of them were brave at the same time. They would be so, so, _so_ very proud of you for risking yourself to find me and save me and our kingdom… Just as proud as I am." She smiled and bumped her sister's shoulder with her own in an attempt to be playful as Anna was before. "So don't doubt yourself."

"I'll try," the younger sister replied.

The queen smiled. "Good." They both turned their attention back to the stones.

Elsa thought about how doubtful Anna was of herself and her bravery just now, and was reminded of the previous day when the princess doubted her own ability to draw and write, and was even insulting the drawings that she had made in the past. It all could be brushed off as extreme humility, but… yesterday… there was a sort of anger and self-dislike—she dared not think self-hatred—that Anna was directing at herself.

Did her little sister…?

Well… she'd have to find out for herself.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Ooooh… the writer is being so mysteeeeerious! What is she planning?"

I'm not gonna tell you.

You're gonna have to wait and find out for yourselves.

(Hehe.)

:3

I hate going through the Frozen fandom and finding that so many people who absolutely hate Elsa and Anna's parents. They go on saying that they abused their two little girls, but I think that they just didn't know what to do and just did what they thought was best. My parents have told me many times that "when your child is hurting, you're hurting, too." So I applied that to Agdar and Idunn. I think that the thirteen years of separation probably hurt them a lot, as well.

So, that was chapter ten. Thank you all so much for reading it. I hope you enjoyed it.

Please tell me what you thought about it in the review box below.

God bless you and your day.

Sincerely, The Professor


	11. Chapter Eleven: Owls and Bad Dreams

_**Chapter Eleven: Owls and Bad Dreams**_

 _Theme Song: Snowy by Toby Fox (from Undertale) and Nightmares by Myuu_

After visiting their parents' memorials, Elsa and Anna spent the rest of the day in each other's company doing various things. But now Friday had passed, and Saturday morning had arrived.

At ten o'clock, the two sisters were sitting with Kristoff in his new sled as Sven pulled them through the forest to the queen's ice palace—the Ice Master had picked them up in a cart that he owned to use in the summer at nine-forty-five as promised, and he had driven them to where he kept his sled. Olaf was also with them, and was riding on the back of his reindeer friend, chatting with him.

Though the Great Freeze was over, it was still more than a bit chilly on the North Mountain's summit, so—per Elsa's request—Anna wore her boots, mittens, and cloak over her dress. In addition, the princess had a small satchel in which she held her sketchbook and some pencils, since she wanted to draw some pictures of her sister's palace while she was there.

Anna bounced excitedly in her seat between her sister and her suitor, an equally excited squeal coming from her throat in her failed attempt at self-control.

"Thanks for showing us the rest of your ice castle, Elsa!" the princess thanked for the fifth or sixth time that day.

"Yes, thank you, Queen—er, no that sounded awkward—I mean, um, thank you, your Highness," Kristoff added; his lack of human contact causing him to stumble over his words.

"I haven't show it to you yet," the queen replied to them with a fond smile, "but you're welcome. And Kristoff, please, call me Elsa."

"Oh! Uh, okay, your High—" the Ice Master caught himself and shook his head, "I mean, okay, Elsa."

Their conversation up the mountain was pleasant. Anna told Elsa how she and Kristoff met and how they narrowly escaped a hungry pack of wolves, which she recounted with great enthusiasm. "—and then Kristoff's old sled went up in flames and Sven and I pulled him up to safety! And that's how we escaped from the wolves…" she rubbed her neck with her mitten covered hand as she added, "and that's why I owed him a sled."

"Wait, _how_ _many wolves were chasing you two_?" Elsa asked in shock.

"I counted about eight," Kristoff answered.

" **Eight?!** "

"Yeah, but we _totally_ sent 'em runnin'," Anna added while crossing her arms over her chest with a smug smirk on her face. "Now they know better than to mess with 'Ice Master Kristoff' and 'Fire Ball Anna'!"

"Don't you mean 'Feisty-Pants Anna'?" Kristoff playfully corrected.

As Kristoff and Anna debated the princess's 'super cool fighting name'—as the younger sister had dubbed it—Elsa decided that she would have to look into finding a way for her little sister to stay safe if she should ever go into the forest by herself.

In time, they made it to the front of the ice palace, and as Kristoff was helping Anna out of the sled—not because he thought she needed his help, but because he wanted to be a gentleman—Elsa noticed that the rail of the icy staircase was broken, and sent an icy gust to repair it while the other's weren't looking. She didn't want to tell them what had happened just yet, though it would probably be inevitable.

When the Ice Master had helped the princess, the two joined the queen at her side. Sven snorted and pawed at the ground excitedly where he stood still harnessed to the sled. "Sorry, buddy," Kristoff apologized to the reindeer, "but I think you should stay here."

" _Aw, why?_ " he asked for his friend as the reindeer pouted dejectedly. Elsa arched an eyebrow at the mountain man's behavior, while Anna simply smiled, aware of his habit of talking for his reindeer friend.

"Because, Sven," the ice harvester began in his normal voice, "you hooves aren't exactly built for ice stairs."

"Don't worry, Sven, I'll keep you company," Olaf happily volunteered while giving his friend a reassuring pat with his twiggy arm.

With that sorted out, Elsa then led her sister and the Ice Master up the icy steps to the entrance of the palace. The cold and sleek doors opened seemingly of their own accord, and the Ice Queen smiled at her companions while motioning inside with one hand, beckoning them in. "Welcome to my ice palace," she stated.

The eyes of Kristoff and Anna were widened in awe as they entered. They didn't get much of a chance to fully appreciate the icy architecture the last time that they were here.

"Now _that…_ is ice," Kristoff murmured, "I'm gonna cry again." Elsa smiled under the praise, glad to see at least one person outside her family who thought her powers were beautiful.

"Don't worry," Anna softly reassured without breaking her gaze form the interior, "I still won't judge."

Fortunately for Elsa, the entrance hall didn't have any evidence of the attack from Weselton's men.

After a few more moments, the queen led the duo up the stairs to the side rooms. The first room was a replication of Elsa and Anna's room and the second was a recreation of their parents' bedroom. All of the objects within the rooms were made out of ice, except for the mattresses, pillows, and blankets of the beds which were made out of snow. Anna and Kristoff loved all the thought and detail that went into the making of the rooms. Elsa commented that she had recreated only the rooms she had the happiest memories of. Her and Anna's room was the most happiest, their parents' room was the next happiest, and the last room was the third happiest: their father's office.

When they entered, it was an exact recreation of the real thing… except many things were knocked over and there were a few jagged ice formations scattered here and there. _Oh,_ Elsa thought to herself upon seeing the mess, _I forgot about that._

"What _happened_ in here?" Anna worriedly questioned, gazing at the icy mess in fear; not _of_ her sister, but _for_ her sister.

Blushing, Elsa clutched her left hand with her right and looked awkwardly about the room. Steeling herself, she took in a deep breath and murmured, "Well…"

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

 _ **SLAM!**_ Elsa slammed the door to the balcony closed and stood in her new ice palace. Finally… a place where she could feel and reveal her powers to her heart's content without having to worry about hurting anybody.

Without having to worry about hurting Anna.

Tears welled up in her eyes as a sad smile graced her features; Anna was safe. After thirteen years, her little sister was finally safe.

Blinking back the tears— _"You'll never see me cry,"_ —she rubbed her cold palms together in anticipation; time to work on the castle's interior. She recreated her and Anna's room, then her parents' room, and finally, her father's office. Elsa had made the three rooms on an upper floor directly above the room where she had finished singing her song. The entrances of the three rooms joined together with a stairway and a small wall with a window in a pentagon shaped landing. Starting at the top of the stairs and going clockwise, it was stairs, office, window, parents' room, and her and Anna's room.

She was over at the window-seat in the office adding the final touches when she heard a noise coming from behind her, such that the pages of a book make when held by the spine and shaken.

Shoulders hunched in fear, she slowly turned around to see…

…a little white owl standing in the middle of the room looking up at her with its great big eyes.

"Hoot."

"Aah!" Elsa yelled in surprise, whirling the rest of herself around as she accidentally shot some ice from her hands in her alarm. Fortunately, the ice only hit the floor and the ceiling and not the owl, who seemed totally unfazed by the crystalized formation of ice standing right next to it, and even took another hop towards her.

"Hoot."

"Shoo," the queen softly ordered while waving her hands in a sweeping motion in the bird's direction, trying to shoo it away. "Go on, shoo." She then stopped and looked at her hands, remembering how she had almost killed the Duke of Weselton in the castle courtyard, before quickly hugging her sides, desperately wishing that she still had her gloves.

Since she first heard the flapping of the owl's wings, she had been filled with fear. Not _of_ the owl, mind you, but rather _for_ the owl; she didn't want to accidentally hurt it.

The owl tilted it head to the side slightly as it continued to calmly observe the queen. _What a very peculiar bird,_ Elsa thought to herself. _I thought that owls typically felt threatened by the presence of humans and behaved aggressively towards them._ Though the Snow Queen had never really had much contact with animals, even before her isolation, she did remember reading a book or two on birds while locked in her room for those many years. She didn't know why, but the random fact of owls being threatened by and aggressive towards her species had always stuck.

This bird was very peculiar.

She was brought out of her thoughts when the bird of prey suddenly flew onto the icy desk and took and few more steps closer to her. By now, a flurry had formed over the Snow Queen, causing large snowflakes to descend around her as she took a step back towards the wall. The owl followed to the edge of the desk, snapping its beak at the snowflakes, thinking they were some sort of flying insects.

Clutching her hands in fear, the Snow Queen's thoughts raced as she frantically tried to think of what to do. A bird once managed to get in the castle when she was little. If only she could remember what Gerda did to shoo it away…

Aha!

With a quick swirl of her hand, a long ice broom materialized in the queen's grasp. Its handle was made out of a long icicle and its brush was made of strands of compact snow, and, handle and brush together, it was almost as long as Elsa was tall. Holding the end of the brushing tool with both hands, she gently swept it at the owl while murmuring, "Go on, shoo!"

To her dismay, it stayed where it was, and after a few moments, it hoped onto the broom itself, causing the queen to shriek in surprise and drop the broom, accidentally shooting more ice around the room. The owl gave the Snow Queen a glare with its large eyes as if to show how annoyed with was with her dropping his new perch as soon as he had hopped upon it. Elsa could sense its annoyance, and was sure that if the bird could speak, it would probably say something along the lines of, "How _dare_ you drop my perch! Do you know who I am, _peasant_?! I. Am. An owl!" Okay, _maybe_ it wouldn't say _exactly_ that, but it was a close enough guess for now.

Cautiously picking up the broom once more, the queen began to try and gently sweep the owl out of the room by using the snowy brush to push the bird's feathery bottom in the direction of the door.

The cycle of Elsa trying to shoo the bird away and getting startled by it doing something unexpected—usually moving closer to her—kept repeating for a few hours—since she had left the doors to the other two rooms open by mistake and the bird went in them and the rest of the castle instead of out the window or one of the doors to outside.

The three rooms and the landing were all littered with random ice blasts by the time she had blocked off the stairs and the doors to the two bedrooms. She shooed the bird onto the landing with the ice broom, closed the office door behind her, and was proceeding to shoo the owl towards the window, when a sudden sound chilled her soul—though not with cold.

It was the sound that the pages of books make when held by their spines and shaken.

Slowly looking up towards the window, the Snow Queen's eyes were met with the sight of at least four or five birds of various species perching on the windowsill and staring at her with large eyes.

Neither Elsa nor the birds—or even the pesky owl—moved or made a sound for several moments… until the owl that she had been dealing with gave a loud " _Hoot!_ " and it started flapping its wings to fly away.

This sudden action caused the queen to unleash a _very_ unsophisticated scream and flail her arms about in a _very_ ungraceful manner, blasting even more ice around as she panicked and slipped before falling on her bottom. The commotion frightened the birds, and as the Snow Queen was screaming, flailing, slipping, and falling, they all flew away… even the pesky owl from before.

Seeing the birds fly away, Elsa huffed and tried, but failed, to blow a loose strand of hair out of her face before carefully rising to her feet again—kneading a now sore bum. Once she was up, she began to clean up the mess that had been made—which took a while.

She was about to clean up the office when she heard a knocking come from the front entrance of the castle, and the voice that she thought she would never be blessed to hear again…

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

When Elsa finished recounting how the mess in the office came to be, she was blushing up a storm—not a literal storm, though—since Anna was snickering, giggling, and at times outright laughing throughout the story. Kristoff, on the other hand, had been biting his lip so hard to keep himself from laughing that it was a miracle he hadn't started bleeding yet.

Elsa wrapped her arms around herself as she watched her sister laugh and the ice harvester try not to laugh. After a moment or two, Anna approached her sister—still giggling—and wrapped her arms around her neck in a hug. "Oh, Elsa," she chuckled, "I'm sorry for laughing, I just... didn't think that I'd ever see this side of you again."

"It's okay," Elsa murmured while timidly returning the hug. "It's… sort of funny, now that I think about it." Pulling away, she smiled and stated, "How about we finish our tour?"

"Yes, please!" the princess excitedly begged.

Going back down stairs, the three made their way to the floor with the balcony—they had skipped it since Elsa had insisted that the top floors were the most interesting.

Entering the room, the princess was shocked at what she beheld. All about the room, shards of shattered ice that once made up the magnificent chandelier were scattered all over the place like broken glass, there were jagged spikes of ice about the same height as a full grown man jutting out of the floor, the doors to the balcony had been knocked off of their hinges and were laying on the ground forgotten while the balcony itself was blocked by a large portion of what could be described as a wall of ice, but what captivated the princess's attention—and her horror—was a thin, flat sheet of ice that shot up from the ground which held a single arrow in its cold grasp.

Anna stared at it with brow furrowed in anger and jaw hanging in alarm. Without looking away from the deadly bolt, the princess sternly asked, "What happened here?"

Nervously hugging herself with her head bowed, the queen began, "Several hours after you… left," she winced as she tried to block out the memory of striking Anna's heart, "Hans came with several of our guards to take me back to Arendelle. The snow gollum that I had made that afternoon was keeping him and the guards busy, but two men—who I now know were working for the Duke of Weselton—managed to slip past him. They forced their way into the palace and pursued me to this floor. I tried to tell them to leave, but they wouldn't listen, and they… well…" she motioned to the bolt, "they attacked me."

By now, a small flurry had formed over the Snow Queen's head. "At that point, things sort of become a blur," the queen continued. "I started panicking a bit and was just so focused on getting them _out_ that I didn't realize that I…" she hesitated, "I didn't realize that I was about to kill them until Hans and the guards made it past my snow gollum and he… shouted at me to stop. While I was distracted, one of Weselton's men tried to shoot me, but Hans grabbed his arm and directed his fire up and away from me. Unfortunately, the bolt struck the chandelier and it came crashing down. Since I was standing directly beneath it, I tried to run so that it wouldn't crush me, but as I was doing so, I slipped and hit my head. When I awoke, I was in the dungeon. I managed to break out and I was looking for you when Hans found me again… You know the rest." A dry chuckle escaped her lips; she had completely forgotten that Kristoff was in the room, otherwise, she would not have said all that she had. "Heh, imagine. The person who nearly killed us both kept me from murdering those two men. How ironic is that?"

Needless to say, Kristoff was shocked at what he heard. Those were some serious accusations that the queen was making against herself. With wide eyes, he turned to look at Anna to see how she would respond to that.

Walking over to her older sister, each step as firm as the base of the very mountain upon which they stood, Anna took Elsa's face in her hands and forced her to look her in the eyes before stating, "No, Elsa. You are wrong."

"But Anna, I almost killed them," the queen argued in a hushed tone, shifting her gaze over to the ice harvester for a split second, suddenly aware of his presence once more and embarrassed that she and her sister were having this sort of conversation in front of him.

"That doesn't make you a murderer," the princess argued back. "You said that those two men attacked you first, that makes _them_ assassins and guilty of attempted regicide, and _you_ are innocent and were only defending yourself." She let out a sigh before continuing more gently, "When someone attacks someone else and they end up killing the person who attacked them while trying to defend themselves, it doesn't count as murder. And that's what you were doing! Defending yourself, that is. You're a queen. You've studied Arendellian law. Papa must've taught you this, right?"

The queen nodded timidly.

"And guess what?" the princess added with a smile.

Elsa arched both eyebrows slightly as if to silently ask, "What?"

"You didn't kill anyone."

There was a pause before the older sibling quietly countered, "But I almost _did_."

"But you _didn't_ ," the younger sister firmly yet gently corrected. "If anything, those two men should be punished for trying to kill you. So don't make such awful accusations against my big sister, okay? Because I know that the last thing she wants to do is hurt anyone."

There was a long pause as Anna gazed into her sister's eyes with a loving and determined smile and Elsa returned the gaze with a look of disbelief, wondering how on earth she was blessed to have a little sister with such kindness and mercy in her heart.

Finally, the Snow Queen nodded and whispered, "Okay."

"Okay," the princess returned with a smile. The flurries that had been dusting the two of them with snow stopped, and the younger sister lovingly brushed the snowflakes off of Elsa's arms and shoulders, even though she knew that the cold didn't bother her. Taking her sister's hands in hers, Anna then asked with a smile, "How about we clean up this mess so that it won't make you feel guilty anymore, okay?"

"Alright," the queen replied with a small smile of her own. Anna whirled around and had begun to pick up pieces of ice—and Kristoff was about to help her—when Elsa raised her hands and used her magic to draw the ice together and fix the balcony with its door, remove the jagged icicles that clung to the floors and walls, and lastly, restore the chandelier to its former glory.

Kristoff gapped at the beautiful chandelier before asking, "How do you do that?"

Smiling at the praise, the Snow Queen wiggled her fingers and replied, "Magic."

Walking underneath the chandelier, Anna noticed that if she stood directly beneath its center, the large decoration looked like a snowflake. Looking down at the floor, she observed the large snowflake patter there as well, and looking back and forth between the floor and the chandelier, she realized that they were both the same shape, maybe different in size, but it was the same snowflake. Standing at the edge of the room, the princess took her sketchbook and a pencil out of her bag and began to sketch the snowflake.

Noticing the position of the sun shining through the walls, Kristoff stated, "We should probably get going if we all want to make it back to Arendelle by supper time."

"You're right," Elsa agreed before turning to her sister, "Anna, come on, let's go."

"Okay, I'm coming," the princess replied as she carefully tucked her sketchbook and pencil in her satchel and linked arms with her suitor as the queen led them out. "Thanks again for showing us your ice palace, Elsa," Anna thanked as they reached the sled.

"Yes, thank you very much, Que—I mean, Elsa," Kristoff added as he took the reins in hand.

"You two are most welcome," the Snow Queen warmly replied as she and Anna sat down in the sled.

With one arm around her sister's shoulder and the other linked with the arm of her suitor, Anna talked with her companions as they journeyed home.

The princess was exceptionally chatty, and did most of the talking on the way back to the village, but her companions did not mind. In fact, when the girl fell asleep, they were more disappointed to not hear her voice any more than they were relieved that there was quiet once again. Anna fell asleep with her head resting on Kristoff's arm, the strong limb still linked with her smaller, more petite one. The princess's other arm was also still draped around her elder sibling's shoulder, and the queen rested her head against her little sister's head fondly, with one arm wrapped round the girl's waist in a sideways hug.

"Kristoff," the Snow Queen suddenly began, "do you care about my sister?"

The ice harvester glanced at Elsa then back at the road ahead of them before answering, "Of course I care about her."

"Would you do anything to protect her?"

Thinking for a moment, the Ice Master replied, "Anything but sin."

The queen nodded, satisfied with this answer, and there was silence between them for several moments. After almost a full minute, Elsa began, "When Anna and I were little, we used to sneak out of our beds at night and build snowmen."

"That sounds nice," Kristoff commented with a smile.

"It _was_ nice," the woman confirmed with a smile of her own. However, it slowly disappeared as she added, "That is until one night… the night that changed both of our lives."

"What happened?" the Ice Master asked.

"I had made several piles of snow, and Anna was hopping from the top of one to another, asking me to make the next one a little higher than the first. The next thing I knew, the piles were very large and Anna was jumping before I had made another to catch her. I had asked her to slow down but she kept going, and in my panic, I slipped on my own ice just as she jumped. I tried to make another pile of snow to catch her… but I missed, and the ice… hit her head." There was a pause before she added, "Up until that moment, I had never been so scared in my life." Unbeknownst to the Snow Queen, a small flurry had formed overhead, dusting the three of them with cold white powder.

Feeling the cold in her sleep, Anna subconsciously pulled the warm bodies either side of her closer. Turning to look at her little sister, Elsa gently brushed the snowflakes out of the princess's bangs, causing the girl to smile in her sleep. Taking comfort in the fact that the fateful night that separated them was in the past, Elsa began dispersed the flurry that had formed above them.

"Then what happened?" the Ice Master asked.

"I ran over to Anna and held her in my arms just as a blonde streak appeared in her hair before I called out for our parents…" Elsa continued. "She was _so cold._

"Mama and Papa found us and we raced on horseback to the Rock Trolls, where Grand Pabbie took the ice out of Anna's head—along with all of her memories of my magic. Afterwards, he told me that there was both beauty and danger in my powers which would only grow stronger as I got older. He also said that fear would be my enemy, but I figured out only recently that he was speaking of _my_ fear of myself and not just the fear of others."

Kristoff thought that it would probably be a good idea not to mention that he was there that night as Grand Pabbie spoke to Elsa and her family, so he held his peace and continued to listen to the queen's story.

"It was close to morning when we returned home. Papa had the servants move my things from the room that Anna and I shared to a separate room at the other end of the castle, and from that moment forward, my sister and I were separated."

"How long were you separated for?" Kristoff asked.

The queen sighed before answering, "Thirteen years."

"Wow," the Ice Master quietly exclaimed, "that's a long time."

"Yes, it is," the Snow Queen agreed. "But do you know why I did it?"

"Why?" Kristoff asked.

"Because I love Anna, and I felt that it was all worth it if it meant that she would be safe."

There was a pause as the queen's words sank in.

At last, Kristoff stated, "I… I haven't known Anna very long, but I think she's worth it, too. I-If I ever had to do anything like that to protect her, I would definitely do it in a heartbeat, too."

"Would you really?" the queen questioned.

"To the best of my ability."

"Will you promise me something?" Elsa asked.

Kristoff glanced the queen and nodded.

"No matter what happens between the two of you, never, ever, under any circumstances are you to shut her out and ignore her like I did, okay? I did that for thirteen years, and though it was to protect her, it caused us both so much pain—it caused _her_ so much pain. Protect her in any and every way that you can, but don't make the same mistake that I did, okay?"

Looking over at her, the Ice Harvester stated, "I promise."

"I'm holding you to that promise, Ice Master."

At long last, they made it back to the Arendelle. Since there was only snow on the mountain, the Ice Master parked his sled near Oaken's and they took a cart that Kristoff had back to the castle. The two had managed to get Anna half-awake when they changed from sled to cart, but when they were on the road once more, the princess kept going back and forth between conscious and dozing.

Finally, they arrived at the castle. After the princess was awakened, she and the queen exited the wagon and the snowman hopped off of his reindeer companion. The three bid the Ice Master and reindeer goodnight and—after Anna had quickly given Kristoff a kiss on the cheek—they went inside.

When they entered, Kai greeted them and informed them that supper was ready and waiting for them—they had kept it warm for them.

After supper, the two began to prepare for church the next morning.

Most people in that time period didn't bathe as often as we do today; they usually only took baths on Saturday night so that they would be nice and clean for church the next morning—the only other time that they bathed during the week would be if they randomly fell in some mud or got really dirty in some other way.

Anna bathed first, and as she did, Elsa picked out the dresses that they would wear in the morning so that they wouldn't have to rush to get ready. Once the princess had finished her bath and changed into her nightgown, she proceeded to scan the bookshelves for something to read while the queen took her bath.

After Elsa had finished and changed into her nightgown, the two sisters said their prayers and quietly read from the book that Anna chose together before bidding each other goodnight and going to sleep.

Sadly, however, just because you wish someone a goodnight and pleasant dreams, that doesn't necessarily mean that their night will in fact be peaceful…

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

It was a beautiful summer day as Anna and Elsa sat next to each other in the castle garden. The queen was reading a book out loud to her younger sibling as they had done together when they were children.

The princess leaned her head against her sibling's shoulder to follow the text as the Snow Queen read aloud, but was surprised when her sister moved away from her touch.

Not being entirely certain as to how to react to this, Anna scooted closer and leaned her head against her sibling's shoulder again, only for Elsa to scoot away from the contact. The princess was thoroughly confused. She had asked her sister before if some physical contact was okay, and had been reassured that it was alright, so why was she pulling away?

She rested her head on her sister's shoulder one more time.

Elsa scooted away.

She held her sister's free hand with her own.

Elsa pulled it away.

She tried just _barely_ touching her shoulder with the tip of her finger.

Elsa jerked and moved even farther away.

In a normal situation, Anna would've read Elsa's body language and understood that she didn't want to be touched and would've stopped, but for some reason she decided to ignore the signs and wrapped her arms around her sister in a tight hug.

This caused Elsa to throw down the book and shove her little sister away from her before getting up and running back inside the castle. The princess followed.

"Elsa, please," the younger sister called out as she ran, "what's wrong? Why are you shoving me away?"

"Just go away, Anna!" the older sister shouted.

"Why? What's wrong? I thought that some touch was okay. I thought that I wasn't doing anything wrong. What am I doing wrong?"

" _Uhg_! You are far too clingy and needy for a princess! Why can't you do anything right?!" the queen shouted back, more of a statement of annoyance rather than an answer—but it could still be seen as an answer nonetheless.

"You mean… you don't like warm hugs?" the princess asked as she stopped in her tracks and watched her sister run to her old room.

"Yes! I hate them!" Elsa shouted as she opened the door. Looking her in the eye with a hate-filled glare, the Snow Queen added, "And I hate _**you!**_ " before slamming the door closed.

Running over to the door, Anna took the doorknob in her hands and tried to open it… but it was locked.

"Go away, Anna!" Elsa shouted from behind the door. "I don't want anything to do with you!"

"You promised…" the princess whispered sadly before shouting, "You _**promised!**_ " She pound on the door with her fist as she screamed over and over again with tears in her eyes, " _ **You promised! You promised! You promised! You promised!**_ "

Suddenly, she found herself unable to move, and was drawn away from the door by some mysterious, invisible force.

Anna was seized with panic as she struggled in vain to move and was filled with even more alarm when she saw none other than Prince Hans slowly making his way to her sister's room with drawn sword in hand.

Anna tried to warn her sister—to call out, to shriek, to scream, to do **something** —but no sound came out of her mouth. Trembling where she stood, she was forced to watch as Hans opened the door to Elsa's room and slowly entered before closing it once more.

Not a single sound was heard as blood seeped out from underneath the door.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Waking up with a start, Anna bolted upright in her bed.

Gazing about her, she saw that she was in her room… in the dark… alone.

When she looked around for her sister, she couldn't even see any evidence that they shared the room at all due to the darkness, and tears began to silently stream from her eyes. She couldn't see her sibling's bed, nightstand, or anything else that belonged to the queen, which made it look like Anna was the only one who slept in that room… Which made it look like the queen and the princess had never reunited at all.

This was what she had been afraid of. She was afraid that her reuniting with Elsa was only a dream… and here she was… all alone.

Had she finally woken up from the dream that was too good to be true?

She feared she had.

Gazing straight ahead into the inky blackness, Anna did something that she hadn't done for a long time:

She sobbed.

She sobbed like a very scared and very lonely little girl who had finally realized just how alone she really was, and as her tears trekked down her face—doing little to cool her burning cheeks—the sounds of her cries echoed in the big, empty room.

The last time she had wept this bitterly was a few months after her parents drowned at sea. When it finally sank in one night that her parents weren't coming home and that Elsa wasn't going to come out of her room, the princess sat in her bed and sobbed her poor little heart out until her eyes were red and her throat was sore.

Soon, however, the sound of her weeping was accompanied by the sound of quickly approaching footsteps followed by the door to the room being thrown open.

The light from the gas lamps in the hall—though few and dim—appeared very bright to the princess's eyes, and she held up a hand to shield them as she finally noticed the bed across from hers.

Wait, was that… _Elsa's bed?_ Anna thought.

"Anna! Are you alright?!"

In the expanse of the next few seconds, quite a few things happened. Anna looked over to the silhouette of the person standing in the doorway and recognized her big sister standing there. Before she could even question whether it was a trick of her tired mind or reality, she held out her trembling arms towards her sibling—like she had done many times when she was a baby—silently asking for her to hold her. Almost instantly, Elsa was on her bed, holding her in her arms as the younger of the two wrapped her arms around the queen's back and clung to the fabric of the blue nightdress like it was a lifeline, sobbing into her shoulder all the while.

"Shh, it's alright, Anna, I've got you," the Snow Queen murmured while pulling her baby sister to sit sideways in her lap, gently rocking her back and forth like small child. "I'm right here. Everything is going to be okay, Sunshine. Nothing is going to hurt you." Elsa's heart began to break for her sister as the usually happy and cheerful princess sobbed and trembled in her arms.

"What happened?" the queen finally asked.

"Y-you sh-shut me out a-gain, a-and you-you s-said th-at I c-couldn't d-do any-anything r-r-right a-and that you h-hated m-me. Th-that I w-w-wasn't g-good enough. A-and I f-froze be-before Hans k-killed y-ou," the princess stuttered between hiccups and sobs. "A-and then I w-woke up a-nd you we-weren't here, and I-and I thought that-that you and I weren't-weren't to-gether again; that-that it wa-was all a dr-dream. I-I thought that I w-was alone."

Elsa's heart officially broke as she tightened her hold on her sister, cradling the princess's shoulders with one arm and cupping her tear stained cheek with the other hand as she continued to rock her back and forth. Forcing the younger sibling to look her in her own tear filled eyes, the queen murmured, "Oh, Anna, my dear sweet girl, I could never ever hate you."

"No-not even wh-when I wouldn't l-leave y-you alone?" the younger sister asked. "E-even wh-when I an-noy y-you?"

"I have always loved you, Anna," the older sister began, "and I have never _stopped_ loving you. Even when you drive me crazy and refuse to leave me alone, I still love you so, _so_ much." Wiping the tears off of Anna's freckle covered cheeks with her thumb, she added, "I hated every single second that we were apart, but the only reason I did it was because I _love you_ , and I don't want you to ever get hurt, and I especially don't ever want to be the one that hurts you. But now that we're together again and I'm learning to control my powers, I _promise you_ that I will do everything in my power to never ever be separated from you like that again."

Elsa's words caused Anna to start crying once more—only this time in relief—as she buried her face in the shoulder of her sister's nightgown. "I-I love you, Elsa," the princess whimpered.

"I love you, too, Anna," the queen murmured before giving her a kiss on the head.

For several moments, neither said a word.

Anna was content to just be held by her big sister, and Elsa was equally content to hold her baby sister in her lap like when they were little. Anna's sobbing eventually quietened down to an occasional hiccup or whimper, but other than that, there was silence.

"What made you think that us being together again was just a dream?" Elsa asked at length.

"You weren't here, a-and it was so dark that I couldn't see your bed on the other side of the room, so I thought for a bit that it wasn't there," Anna hoarsely replied. "It sounds a bit silly now that I say it out loud. "There was a pause before she asked, "Where were you?"

"I was thirsty and got up to get a drink of water from the kitchen," the queen replied. "I'm sorry, Anna, that that made you feel alone. Can you please forgive me?"

"I forgive you, Elsa," the princess replied.

"If ever you feel lonely and think that I've disappeared, just come look for me, okay?"

"Okay."

"I promise you, Sunshine, that this isn't a dream," Elsa continued while carefully running her fingers through her sister's tangled red hair, "I'm really here."

There was silence for a few more moments before Anna timidly asked, "Do I ever annoy you or make you uncomfortable with all the hugs and cuddles I give you?"

"Since I've gone so long without physical contact, it does feel a bit weird and strange and, I admit, uncomfortable at times, but I wouldn't trade it for the world because, to be honest, I've missed it." She combed her fingers through Anna's bangs, brushing them out of her eyes and offering her a small smile. "I've missed _you_."

"I've missed you, too, Elsie," the younger sister stated in turn with a sad smile of her own.

The constant motion of Elsa slowly and gently rocking her from side-to-side was beginning to lull the princess to sleep. Noticing this, the queen sent a quick, icy breeze to close the door to their room. It wasn't as quiet as she had wished, and the younger sister jumped a bit at the loud noise it made. The older sister mumbled a quick apology as she maneuvered Anna so that she was laying down properly on the bed with her head on the pillow.

The princess sleepily watched as Elsa got underneath the quilts and pulled the blankets up to cover them both. Anna snuggled close, her head resting underneath her sibling's chin. They both wrapped their arms around each other, wanting to stay close so as to chase away any and all nightmares that the other might have.

Pressing a loving kiss against the princess's forehead, the Snow Queen whispered, "I love you, Sunshine."

"I love you, too, Elsie."

At that, sleep claimed them once more, and the nightmares kept their distance, knowing that they were powerless when the two sisters were together.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I got the inspiration for the main theme of this chapter from a post on confessions from a frozen fan dot tumblr dot com (take out the spaces) which said, "Considering the night and day scenes in Frozen I think Anna and Kristoff spent—at the very minimum—a little over a day looking for Elsa's castle. A sequel short film thing based on what she was doing this entire time in which funny things happen would be pretty great because even though Elsa's great, she's pretty much the most serious character in the move and I think such a contrast in this short film would be really interesting." I read that and I instantly pictured some sort of bird coming in and wreaking havoc.

I got the idea for Elsa using a broom to try and shoo the owl away from a scene in Once Upon A Time where Snow White's singing and humming at a little bird that's perched on the kitchen table before picking up a broom and trying to smack it. Haha! (Don't worry, the bird didn't get hurt.)

Also, I just want to ask, did anyone notice the World War I reference that I made in the previous chapter? I'll give you a hint: The reference is made before Elsa starts reading the letter from King Viktor out loud.

I'm just curious if anyone saw that or if I made it so obscure that it went over everyone's heads.

Just as a heads-up, on the 28th this month I'm going to be starting college, so the updates aren't going to be weekly anymore, and maybe not even monthly. But rest assured that I'll still try balance my schedule so that I'll (hopefully) get good grades and update this story as often as I reasonably can.

Thank you all so much for reading this chapter; I hope you enjoyed it.

Please tell me what you thought about it in the review box below (your comments never fail to make me smile, even if it's constructive criticism.)

God bless you and your day.

Sincerely, The Professor


	12. Chapter Twelve: Meetings and Revelations

_**[TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains self-harm, but since a lot of plot related stuff is given in this chapter, I'll let you know when to skip ahead if you have to. After I tell you to skip ahead, I want you to just scroll down until a big block of text in bold, italics, underlines, and caps lock jumps out and tells you that I think it's okay to start reading again. Okay? Okay.]**_

 _ **P.S. I am so, so, so sorry for taking so long with this chapter. I kept meaning to work on it, but then college would tap on my shoulder and say, "Girl, I just want you to know that when it comes to real life, I am very important, and if you ignore me, I will come back later and kick you in the butt." And it would frustrate me so much, you have no idea. ("Ugh. Fiiiine! I'll do my homework, but I WON'T like it. I know it's important, but that doesn't mean I have to enjoy it.") But I want you all to know that whenever I got discouraged because of the amount of homework I had or because of my grades, I would briefly look at the reviews y'all have given me so far, and they never failed to make me smile and encourage me. :-) So, thanks for being so patient, guys. I'll shut up and let you read the chapter now. ;-)**_

 _ **Chapter Twelve: Meetings and Revelations**_

 _Theme Song: Painkiller by Three Days Grace_

The next morning, the two sisters got up and got ready for church.

In that time period, most of the nation of Arendelle—known today as Norway—was Lutheran, and Catholicism was only legal in a few places, the city of Arendelle—also called "Arendelle" at the time, but known today as Kristiansand—being one.

Being raised as Catholics, the two sisters attended Mass in the Catholic chapel close by—the same one where Elsa was crowned queen.

Being good Catholic parents, King Agdar and Queen Idunn brought their children to Mass on Sundays and to church on the major feasts… _both_ their children. Even through the thirteen years of isolation. The king and queen would always be sure to sit between their two children to make sure that there was no physical contact between them. The parents would have let the two sit next to each other in a heartbeat if their eldest born had given them some indication that it was safe to do so, but Elsa never felt that it was safe.

There were some times when Anna would try to talk to her older sister—either before, during, or after church—but Elsa would do her best to ignore her, knowing that talking to Anna would just give the younger sibling false hope, and that talking with her would tempt her to give her sister a warm hug or some other small form of physical contact, which Elsa knew was a very, very dangerous thing to try given how unstable her powers were at the time. She remembered when she was practicing her handshake with a suit of armor and the horror she felt when her powers exited her as if of their own accord and covered the entire arm of the suit in ice.

Despite this, however, whenever Anna made a particularly goofy face at her sister, the older sibling couldn't help but smile ever so slightly at it. Even if she had to quickly turn her head away to try and quell the temptation to hug her sister. She would be the loving, responsible sister by putting her sibling's wellbeing first.

Sadly, after the king and queen drowned at sea, Elsa stopped coming to Mass on Sunday—she stopped coming to church at all—because she knew that in her emotionally distraught state she would be tempted more than before to give her sister a warm hug, and that that same emotionally distraught state made it all the more dangerous for her to be around her sister due to her powers.

But now that Elsa had finally figured out how to control her powers, she had no problem with sitting next to her sister during Mass… so long as Anna stopped trying to poke her side and tickle her and make her laugh that is.—There's a time and a place for poking and tickling, but church isn't one of those times or places.—

When Mass had finished and they left the church, they went back to the castle and spent the rest of the day building snowmen and hanging out together.

But now Sunday had come and gone, and Monday was now here to tell everyone to get back to work once more.

I'm sure that you all have experienced how wonderful _that_ is.

Oh, the joys of Monday morning!

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Two guards stood at the entrance of the castle courtyard, one on either side of the gate as they made sure that no one came in who was not supposed to. As they stood watch, they saw a figure approaching in the distance riding on the back of a reindeer and dressed in a uniform very much like their own.

They both smiled.

"Welcome back, Sir Alfred Peura!" the first stated.

"How are you faring, Sir?" the other asked in greeting.

"Good morning, Lt. Borg, Lt. Frisk!" the one called Sir Alfred greeted in reply. "I'm doing well, thank you for asking. I trust that you are both well?"

"Indeed we are, Sir," Lt. Frisk replied.

"Has our new queen met with the council yet?" Sir Alfred asked.

"No, not yet, I don't think," Lt. Borg replied.

"No? I thought she would have met with them by now?"

"There were some… setbacks that I am sure she can explain better than we can. You go on and meet with her, we'll get someone to put Themba in the stables for you."

"Thank you, gentlemen," Sir Alfred stated before dismounting and affectionately patting the reindeer's shoulders and neck. "Now, you be a good girl for Borg and Frisk, okay, Themba?"

The reindeer gave a snort in reply.

"Good girl."

Leaving his reindeer companion in the trusted hands of his fellow soldiers, Sir Alfred made his way to the castle doors and knocked.

The door was answered by Kai. "Ah, Sir Alfred, it's nice to see you again," the butler greeted warmly while beckoning him in.

"It's nice to see you again, as well, Kai," the knight replied. "I got caught in a bit of a blizzard on the way back here; I trust that her majesty is alright?"

There were very few people in addition to the former king and queen who knew about Elsa's powers while she was growing up. Kai, Gerda, and the rest of the staff knew, their priest knew, and Sir Alfred knew. He knew because he was the Captain of Arendelle's Royal Guard and was responsible for the safety of the royal family.

"Her Majesty is more than alright," Kai began with a smile, "she and Princess Anna have finally reunited."

"No! Truly?" the knight asked in surprise.

Kai nodded. "Truly, Sir Alfred."

"How?"

"Why don't you ask them yourself?" the butler stated as a door behind the knight was opened.

Sir Alfred turned around to be greeted with the sight of the queen and princess entering the hall.

Anna saw the knight and smiled brightly. "Sir Alfred!" she cheered in recognition before running up to him and warmly shaking his hand with both of hers. "It's so, _so_ nice to have you back!"

"Indeed it is," Elsa added—though more calmly.

"Thank you, Princess Anna, Queen Elsa, it is good to be back," the knight stated, rather shocked to see the two together.

"How is your mother?" the older sibling asked. "Last we spoke, you said that she wrote to you about being sick with a fever."

"She died while I was with her," Sir Alfred solemnly replied.

"Oh, we're so sorry," Anna earnestly stated.

"Indeed we are," Elsa agreed.

"It's okay," the knight reassured, "at least she died peacefully."

"It's good that you went to see her before she died," Elsa stated.

"Yes, it is…" Sir Alfred paused sadly before adding, "I apologize again for missing your coronation, your Majesty."

"There's no need to apologize, Sir Alfred," Elsa reassured. "Your mother needed you and you needed to see her. I would've done the same if I were in your shoes."

"Thank you, your Majesty," the knight thanked with a sad smile. "I'm anxious to hear how your coronation went and how you two are now reunited."

The sisters looked at each other before the older of the two stated, "It's a long story."

"I'm still interested in hearing it if it's alright with you," Sir Alfred replied.

It _was_ alright with them, so Elsa and Anna spent the next three-quarters of an hour telling him all that happened.

In the end, Sir Alfred was both shocked and overjoyed that everything turned out okay and that the two sisters were finally reunited. However, there was one thing that he was upset about…

"I should've been there to stop Prince Hans and that treacherous duke before they got as far as they did," he growled in frustration, upset that he wasn't there to do his job and protect the queen and princess.

"Hey, it's okay," Anna reassured the knight with a friendly hand on his shoulder. "Your mother was dying. You needed to be there to say goodbye to her."

"And besides," Elsa added, "everything turned out alright. So don't berate yourself."

"Alright," the knight reluctantly stated before asking, "Queen Elsa, when are you to meet with the council?"

"In just a couple minutes," the Snow Queen replied.

"Would you like me to accompany you?"

"Would that be a good idea seeing as how…?" the monarch trailed off.

"Seeing as how I have dark skin?" Sir Alfred finished for her.

She nodded. " _I'm_ okay with you accompanying me, I just don't know if the members of the council will be okay with it," Elsa explained.

"Your Majesty, I may be of African descent," Sir Alfred calmly but firmly began, "but I am a free man. The late Sir and Lady Bergman bought my mother's freedom before I was born, so that means I was born free. None of the members of the council will have a valid argument against me saying that I must not be allowed in that room. The only people who can tell me whether I should be in that room or not are yourself and the princess. If you wish for me to accompany you and guard you like I did your father, then say the word and I shall, but if you don't want to risk an argument with the council about me, then say the word and I will stand guard outside the door… And I will also suggest that someone else accompany you in my place."

Moved by how the knight defended himself while staying humble, Elsa firmly stated, "Sir Alfred, not only do I want you to accompany me to this meeting, but I am making it a requirement that you to accompany me to every meeting that I will ever attend."

The man gave a small smile before bowing humbly. "Thank you, your Majesty."

In the town square, the clock tower sounded the time: nine o'clock.

"Well, I should say that it's time for us to get going," Elsa stated.

"Good luck, Elsa," Anna encouraged. "I hope the meeting goes well."

"Thank you, Anna," Elsa replied.

"Hey," the princess began before giving her sister the biggest smile she could muster, "you got this."

The encouragement made the queen smile, and any doubt that she had was pushed from her mind.

At that, the knight and the queen bid farewell to the princess before departing to meet with the council.

A few members of the council were upset that Sir Alfred had attended the meeting, but they were silenced both by the queen and by the rest of their peers before moving on to the business at hand.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Several hours later, the meeting ended, and Elsa and Sir Alfred emerged from the council room.

"Who are you going to appoint to search for the missing son of Sir Bergman?" the knight asked with his hands clasped behind his back as the two began to walk down the hallways.

"I'm going to give you that job," Elsa informed him, lacing her fingers together. "I would've told you while the meeting was still in session, but I know that there would be a few people who would've protested against that and who probably would've done something to hinder your search."

"Are we even certain if the child is even alive after all this time?" the man asked.

"We are not," the woman admitted.

"He would be at least twenty-one if he is alive. He would most likely have a job and a family of his own, he might not even be in Arendelle at all for all we know, and news like this would surely turn his world upside-down."

"But if he's out there, we at least owe it to his parents to make sure that he's safe... or at least learn of his fate." There was a pause before the queen asked, "How soon can you reopen the investigation?"

"Consider me already working on it," the knight replied.

"Good. Thank you, Sir Alfred, for doing this. I hope that you can find something that was missed the first time this was investigated."

"For the sakes of my former guardians, I hope so as well."

There was silence between them for a few moments before the man asked, "May I be so bold as to ask if you're going to tell Princess Anna of the letter from Russia?"

The Snow Queen sighed, her brow furrowed in worry as she took the folded parchment out of her pocket and held it in her hands. "I will… but not yet."

"When are you going to tell her?" the knight inquired.

"I don't know," the queen sighed.

Sir Alfred nodded slowly before stating, "Well, in the meantime, I shall pray for you both and hope that things go smoothly."

"Thank you, Sir Alfred," the queen replied with a small smile. "We shall pray for you as well and that your project goes well."

"Thank you, your Majesty. I should get going."

"Very well. Goodbye, Sir Alfred."

"Farewell, your Majesty. I shall tell you when and if I find something."

"I shall expect nothing less from you."

At that, the knight gave a quick bow and left.

Deep in thought, the queen continued to walk down the hallways until she made it back to her office. Sitting at her desk, she rested her forehead against it and let out a sigh. The words of the letter in her pocket still cycling through her mind.

What was she going to do?

"Hey, Elsa! How'd the meeting go?"

The Snow Queen jumped a little at the sudden presence of her little sister standing in the doorway before replying, "It was stressful and boring."

"How stressful?" Anna asked, moving a little bit closer.

"Very."

There was a pause before the princess timidly asked, "Do… you wanna talk about it?"

"No, not really."

"Come on, Elsa," Anna gently pushed, "you don't have to hide being upset anymore. I'm here to help now."

"How can you tell that I'm upset?" Elsa questioned while raising her head slightly to look at her sibling in curiosity.

"You're snowing," the younger sister plainly stated while pointing at the snowflakes suspended around the young queen.

The queen just huffed a stress-filled sigh and rested her forehead against the desk once more.

"Come on, Elsa, tell me what's wrong," the princess asked again.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Are you sure?" the princess asked, not realizing that she was now being rather annoying.

"Yes."

"Are you absolutely, positively sure?"

"Just drop it, Anna!" the monarch snapped while wrapping her arms around her head and curling further into the desk.

The princess raised her hands up in the universal sign for surrender before stating, "Sorry, I was just asking a simple question."

"It's not that simple, Anna," the older sister murmured while sitting up to lean her elbows on the desk and rest her face in her hands. "This is government and politics; it's not as easy as riding a bike."

The younger sister's brow furrowed slightly, thinking that the statement was a poke at how she couldn't ride a bike very well. "…What's gotten into you?"

"Nothing, Anna, I'm just stressed."

"Well, then tell me what's wrong and let me help you!" the young woman restated with open arms—ready to comfort her sister—like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I told you, Anna, it's not that simple!" the queen growled.

"Well, then _explain it to me_ , Elsa!"

The blonde looked at her sister like she was considering doing just that before turning away again. "…It's hard to explain!"

"Why is it hard to explain?" Anna questioned while crossing her arms over her chest.

"Because it's complicated!"

The redhead had had just about enough of this. Placing her hands on her hips, she sarcastically accused, "Oh, I get it, so it's too complicated for me to understand because I'm _sooo_ dumb."

"I didn't say that!" Elsa defended, looking over at her sister.

"Well, that's what it _sounds_ like."

" _ **Uhg!**_ You're being _impossible!_ " the queen huffed while rolling her eyes.

Anna's brow furrowed even more, all sarcasm being put aside. "'Impossible'? What do you mean 'Impossible'?"

Elsa leaned back in her chair, and it looked like she was going to explain before she crossed her arms over her chest and one knee over the other while turning away and replying, "No."

"Oh, come on, Elsa," the princess goaded on, placing her hands on the desk, "give me the full dictionary definition of 'being impossible,' it should be _sooo_ easy since you're the brains of the outfit!"

"Alright! _Fine!_ " the queen loudly snapped while standing and slamming her own hands on the desk, shooting ice out against the wood which went ignored by them both. "'Impossible. Definition: very difficult to deal with. Synonyms include but are not limited to: unreasonable, difficult, intolerable, unbearable, exasperating, infuriating, and irritating. Example: "Anna was being impossible because she wouldn't let sleeping wolves lie!"'" By now, there were spikes of ice beginning to form at the Snow Queen's feet in her frustration, but the princess firmly stood her ground, either fearless against the ice or simply not noticing it… or both.

The princess gave a confused look. " **What does any of this have to do with wolves?!** "

" **It's a trope!** "

" **What does that even mean?! You know I'm not as fluent in fancy words as you!** "

"Actually, I don't!" the queen shouted. "In case you haven't noticed, I've spent the last thirteen years locked away trying to _protect you!_ "

"Actually, _I_ don't!" the princess yelled in return. "Because in case _you_ haven't noticed, I've spent the last few minutes _**being angry at you!**_ "

"Uhg!" Elsa growled in frustration as she fell back into her chair and rested her forehead in her hand. "Just leave me alone, Anna."

"Oh, where have I heard _this_ before?" Anna sarcastically asked while resting her chin in her hand. "Oh, yeah, that's right, in front of your door! 'Go away, Anna! Go away, Anna!' You know what? I _will_ go away, but don't expect me to come back knocking anytime soon!"

"Alright, then go!" the Snow Queen ordered, not realizing the weight of what she had just said.

"Okay, I will! Let's see how _you_ like being locked out this time!" Anna snapped, not realizing what she was saying either.

"Fine!"

" _Fine!_ "

With that, the princess slammed the door shut and stormed off, leaving the queen alone with her thoughts… and almost immediate regrets. She buried her face in her hands as she tried to calm down.

The words that she said to her sister cycled through her head again and again, and the more she thought about them, the more she curled in on herself in her shame.

What had gotten into her?

Snowflakes were falling all around her as her mind stewed in her stress and regrets.

The more she thought about her fight with her sister as well as the meeting with her council, the more anxious and stressed she became, and the more anxious and stressed she became, the more drained and ashamed she felt.

After many minutes of beating herself up about the fight, she finally made up her mind to go try and take a quick nap before getting back to work again. Since Anna had stormed out of the office, the room had quickly turned into a miniature winter wonderland. The depressing kind, not the happy kind. It was the least of the Snow Queen's worries, however, and a small flurry followed her overhead as she wearily made her way down the halls.

Elsa wrapped her arms around herself and walked with her head bowed, tears beginning to prick at her eyes once more.

She wasn't really paying attention when she reached for the doorknob to enter the room she and her sibling shared, and no sooner had she opened the door when she heard Anna shout, "Elsa, get out! _**Get out!**_ "

"Sorry!" Elsa hastily replied before quickly shutting the door again. She started to walk away when her eyes widened and she froze in her tracks…

Were her eyes playing tricks on her?

Did she just see what she thought she saw?

The realization that had struck the woman soon turned into panic and her already pale face turned paler as a cold wind began to whirl quickly around her.

No. No, no, no, no. Not Anna. Surely not Anna. _Anyone_ but Anna!

Rushing back over to the door, the Snow Queen threw it open and marched right up to where her little sister sat on her bed—despite the princess's protests and almost tripping over the girl's discarded shoes in her haste—and firmly questioned, "Anna, what were you doing just now?"

Despite the cold wind and the no-nonsense tone of Elsa's voice, the young woman just wrapped her left arm more tightly around her legs, hugging them closer to her chest as her right hand remained hidden behind her back as she anxiously replied, "I-I wasn't doing anything, Elsa, just leave me alone."

All this response did was fill the older sibling with more concern, dread weighing her heart down to the pit of her stomach like a ball of lead. "Please, don't lie to me, Anna."

The princess didn't reply, and opted to try and hide as much of her face behind her knees as possible. Unbeknownst to the redheaded young woman, however, the portion of the green dress she wore which covered her shins began to mysteriously grow a few black splotches.

Anna didn't notice this…

But Elsa did.

And it made her already racing heart beat even faster as her panic increased even more.

 _Is that blood?!_

"Anna Helga Landvik," the Snow Queen sternly—and worriedly—stated with furrowed brow, doing her best to appear calm, "show me what you were doing _this instant_."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

 _ **[TRIGGER WARNING: Time to skip ahead now. Remember, just scan for the text that will be in bold, italics, underline, and caps lock all at once. Okay? Okay.]**_

 _Earlier…_

Anna stomped into the bedroom and slammed the door before going over to her bed and flopping down on it.

Curling into a ball, she proceeded to grumble as she thought aloud, "Stupid meeting, stupid council, stupid government, stupid politics, stupid Elsa. Why can't you see that I'm trying to _help you_ , you stinker?! Just let me help you, gosh darn it!"

As she lay there, she began to recall the exact words she said to Elsa in their argument, and her face began to flush in embarrassment and shame. What possessed her to say such horrible things to her sister? Her heart sank even more when she remembered how she told Elsa that she was locking her out this time and to not bother with knocking…

What made it worse was that Elsa didn't protest.

In fact, she encouraged—no—demanded her to leave…

Her heart felt heavy as she sat up with her legs dangling over the side of the bed. This was it. The doors were going to close again… and it was all her fault. With each passing second, the weight in her chest grew heavier, and she hung her head in hopelessness and guilt.

"Stupid Anna," she murmured to herself. "You should've just left Elsa alone. She said that she didn't want to talk about being upset. You knew that she wanted to be left alone. So why didn't you just listen? Stupid, stupid, _stupid Anna!_ This is all your fault."

Heaving a sigh as if it took all of her remaining strength to do so as tears began to well in her eyes, she took off her shoes and long socks before discarding them carelessly on the floor. Reaching under her bed, she fished out a small, bundled up cloth with dark stains on it. Carefully unwrapping the cloth, she revealed its contents: a small letter opener.

—For those who may not know, a letter opener is a small knife-like instrument that people use to… well… open letters. They can come in many different shapes, but they almost always resemble a knife in some way. While some have dull edges, some have sharp edges just like real knives, but most letter openers in the time period that this story takes place were sharp… just like this one.—

Firmly holding the letter opener in her hands, the princess's brow furrowed as she looked at her reflection in the blade. Her usually sparkling blue eyes looked like they belonged to someone far much older than her. They looked empty and devoid of any emotion apart from pain and guilt.

She wondered what the thin little strip of steel in her hands would say to her if it could talk.

Oh, who was she kidding?

She already knew.

Pressing the sharp end of the blade against her fingertip, she sang to her reflection, "You know you need a fix when you fall down,

You know you need to find a way to get you through another day.

Let me be the one to numb you out.

Let me be the one to hold you,

Never gonna let you get away.

The shoulder you cry on,

The dose that you die on."

Lifting up her skirts a tad, she brought the edge of the letter opener to her ankle and pressed it against the skin there, leaving a small, shallow cut. It stung. But she deserved it. She continued singing what she thought the blade would say to her.

"I… I can be your painkiller… killer… killer.

Love me 'til it's all over… over,

'Cause I'm the shoulder you cry on,

The dose that you die on.

I… I can be your painkiller… killer… killer."

All too soon, the distraction from her inner turmoil began to fade away. As she grew numb to the physical pain, the emotional pain came back again.

She hated this. She hated how much this thin blade had taken control of her. She hated herself for growing to depend on the strip of metal. But she had to do it. She had to punish herself for the mess that she had made.

"I know what you want so desperately,

You know I'll give you one for free.

Forever you're coming back to me.

Now I'm gonna give you what you need,

'Cause I know what you feed on, and what you lean on, and what you lead on.

The shoulder you cry on—" she left a slightly longer, deeper cut further up her shin—"The dose that you die on."

Blood began to seep out of the two wounds she had made, but she caught it with the cloth before it could stain anything. The scratchy fabric of the rag caused the cuts to sting for a little longer as she continued to sing, "I… I can be your painkiller… killer… killer.

Love me 'til it's all over… over,

'Cause I'm the shoulder you cry on,

The dose that you die on.

I… I can be your painkiller… killer… killer."

Anna could not stop the tears from falling down her cheeks as the cuts continued to fester and sting. No matter what happened, Elsa could never know of this. It would just hurt her too much.

Elsa… Would she be able to make everything feel better?

"Did you find another cure?" she questioned herself in song.

"Did you find another cure?"

As the guilt returned anew, she began to carve cuts into her opposite leg.

"I… I can be your painkiller… killer… killer.

Love me 'til it's all over… over,

'Cause I'm the shoulder you cry on,

The dose that you die on.

I… I can be your painkiller… killer… killer.

Painkiller."

The door then opened—how could she have forgotten to lock it?—and she quickly threw her skirt back over her legs and hugged them to her chest as she shouted, "Elsa, get out! _**Get out!**_ "

Elsa quickly apologized before exiting and shutting the door.

The princess thought that maybe she hadn't been found out, but then the door burst open once more and she quickly hid the letter opener behind her back while shouting, "Elsa, _get_ _ **out!**_ "

The queen ignored her and quickly marched up to her, standing right in front of her, and sternly asked, "Anna, what were you doing just now?"

Hugging her legs closer to her chest with one hand and gripping the letter opener more tightly in the hand hidden behind her back, the younger sister anxiously replied, "I-I wasn't doing anything, Elsa, just leave me alone."

The Snow Queen didn't buy it. "Please, don't lie to me, Anna," she seemed to plead… almost as if she already knew, or at least suspected.

Anna didn't know how to reply… so she didn't. She just hid her face in her knees as shame overtook her once more. Little did she know that the blood from her cuts began to bleed through her dress, which instantly caught her sister's attention.

"Anna Helga Landvik," the older sister began both with seriousness and with dread, "show me what you were doing _this instant._ "

The princess knew that the jig was up when her sister used her full name. Squeezing her eyes shut, not wanting to see her sibling's reaction—and squeezing out another tear while she was at it—she brought the bloody letter opener out from behind her back and slowly drew the hem of her dress up to her knees.

What Elsa saw caused her heart to break for her sister for the umpteenth time.

All over Anna's legs, from her ankles to her knees, were numerous crisscrossing scars. Some were long, others were shorter, some were shallow, others were deeper… and some were fresh.

Elsa's suspicions had been confirmed.

Snowflakes began to fall as the queen's jaw dropped before she looked up at her sister's face, the hurt evident in her voice as she murmured, "Oh, Anna…"

Squeezing her eyes more tightly closed, the princess whimpered as she suspected that she was about to be scolded, but was surprised when she felt her sister's arms wrap securely around her shoulders. She opened her eyes, and sure enough, Elsa was holding her in her arms, not caring that the blood was probably going to stain her own dress as well. For a few moments, she just sat there, shocked and confused and not knowing what to do, before tears started to prick at her eyes. Finally, a sob tore from Anna's throat and she dropped the letter opener before burying her face in the queen's shoulder as she returned the embrace. Elsa just stroked her hair and ran one hand up and down her little sister's back as she quietly cried with her. As the two wept, snow began to collect on their hair and shoulders.

"I'm—I'm sorry, Elsa," the princess sobbed into the queen's shoulder, gripping fabric of the blonde's dress at the shoulder blades tightly in her hands.

"Shhh," the older sister cooed as she cradled the young woman's head with one hand and continued to rub her back to try and soothe her. "It's okay, Anna, I've got you. Let it out." Tears silently trekked down her cheeks as her voice began to break. "I've got you."

At length, the older sibling pulled away slightly and tearfully asked, "Do you have any bandages that I can use to patch you up?"

The younger sibling nodded.

"Where are they?"

Anna pointed to under the bed.

Elsa retrieved the box of bandages form under the bed and proceeded to tend to Anna's cuts. She even put a thin layer of ice over the bandages to help the pain and bleeding to stop. The princess's shame was so great that she didn't dare meet her sister's gaze the entire time her wounds were tended to, but instead, timidly traced her index finger through the snow that was gathering on the quilt.

"Would you like to change into a clean dress?" the queen asked, motioning to the blood stains in the green fabric.

Anna shook her head.

"What would you like to do?"

The younger girl squeezed the snow that she had gathered into her fist before murmuring, "I just wanna lie down."

"Okay."

Anna hoisted her newly bandaged legs onto the snow-dusted bed and scooted towards the middle while Elsa put away the bandages and moved the letter opener to the nightstand. Once she was finished, the queen solemnly looked over at where her little sister lay with her back to her. Heaving a sorrow filled sigh, she climbed onto the bed as well, wrapping one arm under and around Anna's shoulders and the other around her waist, pulling her close. Brow still furrowed with worry, she nuzzled her face into the back of Anna's head before pressing a kiss there.

"Hi," she whispered into her red hair.

"'Hi,' me?" Anna murmured back.

"How long have you been doing this?" Elsa softly asked.

"Since I was fourteen," the princess replied with more than slight trepidation in her voice.

 _She's been doing this to herself for four years?_ the queen thought to herself. "Why did you start doing it?"

"I felt… empty," the younger sibling began, "it was almost like I couldn't feel any emotions at all, or something. I couldn't entirely understand _what_ it was that I was feeling, or _not_ feeling, or _should_ be feeling, and I _still_ don't understand it, to be honest. I didn't know how to make that feeling go away and it just… drained me of all motivation to do anything at all."

 _Know the feeling,_ the queen thought to herself.

"After a while," the princess continued, "I began to do it whenever I felt guilty about anything… to punish myself... That's why I did it just now… To punish myself for making you upset."

There was no response from her big sister except the tightening of her arms around her and the falling of even more snow. _Oh, Anna,_ the queen thought to herself, _I'm so, so sorry that I made you do this to yourself._

"Are you ashamed of me?" Anna asked while trying to hide the side of her face in the pillows.

"Why would I be ashamed of you?" Elsa inquired with confusion.

"Because I've been doing something horrible to myself for years. And that's the thing, I _knew_ it was horrible and wrong right from the start and I did it anyways. What does that make me?"

"Anna," the Snow Queen began, "I have a secret to tell you." Releasing her sibling's shoulder from her right arm's embrace, she used the other hand to roll up the sleeve and revealed many crisscrossing scars… and a recently applied bandage. "I've done it, too."

This time, Anna's jaw dropped in shock. Looking over her shoulder, she murmured, "No. You, too?"

The young monarch nodded.

"Oh, Elsa," the princess murmured with hurt in her eyes as she rolled over to properly look her sister in the face. "How long have you been doing it?"

"Since I was sixteen," the queen answered.

"Why did you do it?"

"The same reasons you did it."

Anna delicately traced the edge of the bandage on her sister's arm. "Is… Is this new?"

Elsa sighed. "Yes," _unfortunately._

"When did you do this?"

"Shortly before I came in here and found you doing it, too."

"Why did you do it this time?"

"The same reason you did… to punish myself. More specifically to punish myself for yelling at you and upsetting you."

 _ **[OKAY, I THINK IT'S SAFE TO START READING AGAIN. AND NO, I'M NOT SHOUTING.]**_

There was a pause before Anna began, "Elsa, I'm so sorry that I annoyed you earlier and wouldn't leave you alone. I just don't like seeing you upset and I wanted to help, but I should've just listened and stopped trying to make you talk about things you didn't want to talk about. Can you please forgive me?"

"Of course I forgive you, Sunshine," the Snow Queen reassured while affectionately pressing her forehead against her sister's, causing the princess so smile slightly. "And I'm so sorry that I snapped at you and didn't see that you were just trying to help. I just didn't want to burden you with what I was upset about, but that gave me no excuse to yell at you. Could you please forgive me?"

"Of course I can, Elsie," the younger sibling replied with a smile before giving the queen's forehead a kiss, making the older sister smile at the show of affection.

"I think it's about time that I told you what was making me upset," the Snow Queen began while sitting up.

"Oh, Elsa, you don't have to tell me if it really makes you upset to talk or think about it," Anna began while sitting up as well. "I mean, I'm still curious, don't get me wrong, but I don't want you to think that I'm guilt tripping you into talking about it, 'cause I'm not trying to do that; I don't want you to talk about it if it'll just make you upset again… or even more upset."

"No, I think it would actually be best if I told you… especially since it has to do with you."

"It does?" the princess asked, half-shocked, half-curious.

"Yes," the queen confirmed. She then reached into her pocket and pulled out the letter that had been the main source of all her stress. "In order for you to fully understand, I think that it's best if I start from the beginning.

"During the meeting, it was brought to my attention that we received a letter from King Leif Ingolf Volkov—the king of the Russian province of Dom Volkov—and he explained in his letter that our grandfather, King Stamfar, stole land from King Ingolf's father—King Dustan Ulf II—when he slew him in the field of combat, and that our grandfather died before Prince Ingolf could do anything about it. The precise land in question that's being fought over is the northernmost region of our kingdom, called Kjempet Öm.

"When he ascended the throne, King Ingolf wrote to Papa—who had also been recently crowned—saying that he wanted the land back, or to at least be reimbursed.

"He gave Papa four options: he could either give all the land back, he could pay for the land in cash, they could go to war for the land, or have one of us marry one of his sons when we were grown, and thus, form an alliance between Arendelle and Dom Volkov.

"I was informed by the members of the council that Papa talked these four options over with them, and in the meetings that followed, it was decided that, first, we couldn't afford to give back the land since it has an abundance of silver mines, which we had already started using, and such a loss would cut our kingdom's finances and exports considerably. Secondly, we couldn't afford to give the land back in cash since King Ingolf's minimum offer was more than we could afford. Third, we couldn't afford to go to war since Arendelle has a significantly smaller population compared to that of Dom Volkov, and even if we could match Dom Volkov in numbers, all that King Ingolf would have to do would be to write a letter to the Tsar saying that he needed reinforcements, and the Tsar could send him more soldiers than there are snowflakes in winter. If one of us married one of King Ingolf's sons, however, then we would still be allowed to keep Kjempet Öm, there would be no war, and there would be an official alliance between our two kingdoms. So Papa chose that.

"Since I'm the oldest, it was originally suggested that _I_ marry one of King Ingolf's sons, but since I was locked away due to my unstable powers at the time, Papa told the king that I had 'a sickness regarding touch, and that such an ailment would make marriage rather difficult,' and suggested that you marry one of the king's sons instead."

"Is that really what Papa said about your powers?" Anna asked.

"According to the king's letter, yes," the Snow Queen responded while glancing at the parchment in her hands to make certain. "But I assume that Papa said that because he felt it wasn't a smart idea to tell King Ingolf of my powers.

"Anyways, in the letter that the king sent me, he said that it was originally arranged for you to marry his second son—Prince Rudolf—since his first-born—Prince Varg—was already betrothed to the princess of another land at the time. However, King Ingolf forgot that important detail in all the years of waiting for you and his son to both reach at least eighteen, and Prince Rudolf is currently married and awaiting the birth of his first child."

"Soooo the wedding's off then?" Anna asked.

"No," Elsa began in answer, "but it does mean that there will be a change of plan.

"King Ingolf has suggested that you marry his third and youngest son—Prince Torulf—instead, and that he's open to hear suggestions of any other possible changes of plan. He's even set the marriage date a year or two forward to give us time to work out any kinks in the agreement.

"Now, before I continue, I must ask you something."

"Sure, ask away," the princess replied.

The older sibling looked the redhead in the eye and asked, "How serious are you about courting Kristoff?"

"I'm very serious," the younger sibling answered earnestly.

"That's what I thought," the blonde commented before adding, "and that's why I suggested to the council that I marry Prince Torulf in your place so that you can court and maybe one day marry Kristoff."

"You would do that… for me?" Anna asked in astonishment. "You would marry a total stranger… so that I can marry Kristoff one day?"

Smiling fondly at her baby sister, the Snow Queen wrapped an arm around her shoulder and replied, "For you, Sunshine, I would do anything if it meant that you would be happy and safe. Even if it meant marrying the fiercest of monsters so that you can chose whom to marry."

Leaning into her sister's embrace, Anna could not help but smile she was so touched. Then a thought occurred to her. "Wait a minute, you said that 'You can't marry a man you just met.' What makes it suddenly okay for _you_ to marry a _total stranger_? What if this prince is even _worse_ than Hans?!"

"When you have the freedom and ability to choose your husband for yourself," Elsa began, "it is best to get to know the man over the course of at least a few months before you decide if you should marry him or not, but when you have no choice in the situation, you just have to pray that God will make everything work out. And besides, Prince Torulf is not going to be a total stranger when I marry him, King Ingolf said that he would allow at least a year for courting."

"But what if he's worse than _Hans_?!"

"Then he and I will sleep in separate bedchambers, I'll have Sir Alfred guard my room and Marshmallow guard your room, and he'll have no say in how this kingdom is run."

Looking at her sister with a dumbfounded expression, Anna asked, "You're **seriously** willing to do _all this_ … for li'l old me?"

"Yes, Anna," the older sister repeated with a puzzled look as if she was answering the silliest question in the world. "I already told you, I would marry a monster if it meant that you'd be able to choose your husband and be happy with him."

The princess wrapped her arms around her sister's neck in a tight hug. "I love you, Elsa, thank you _soooo_ much!"

The Snow Queen readily returned the hug just as tightly. "I love you, too, Sunshine, but don't thank me just yet. I still need to write back to the king and see if he'll accept this change of plan. And I'll have to talk the council into letting me go through with the rest of the plan."

"What do you mean?" the princess asked, pulling away to lean into her sister's side.

"Well…" the queen hesitantly began, "when I suggested it to the council that I marry Prince Torulf so that you can court Kristoff, they said that that would all be fine and dandy, except that Kristoff is a commoner, and royalty and commoners aren't allowed to marry."

"Aw, come on!" Anna exclaimed while throwing her hands in the air. "That scenario stinks when it's a plot device in stories and it stinks in real life! Come on, people, get it together!"

"I know it stinks," Elsa agreed, "but that's just the way it is. Hopefully it won't be like that for much longer."

There was a pause before the princess asked, "Is there _any_ way that I can make this up to you, Elsa?"

"Yes, there is," the queen began. "Choose your husband _wisely_. Whoever he may be, whether it'll be Kristoff or some other man, all I ask is that you choose _wisely_."

"Oh, don't worry, I _will_ ," the younger sibling promised. "After what happened—and _almost_ happened—with Hans, I am going to be careful as _heck_. I'm going to be the carefullest person _ever!_ "

"'The _most careful_ person ever,'" the older sister corrected with a relieved smile while ruffling the princess's red hair.

"Whatever," Anna retorted with a playful smile of her own, giggling at the feel of the cool fingers tickling her scalp.

Gently wrapping her arm around her sister's shoulders once more, Elsa gave the princess a sideways hug before placing a quick kiss on her forehead.

Leaning her head against her older sibling's shoulder, Anna smiled as she cuddled into the Snow Queen's side.

For several minutes, there was quiet between them as they simply enjoyed each other's silent company and watched as the snow that had piled up around them began to quickly disappear. Heaving a sigh, Elsa stated, "You know that… _this_ ," she motioned to the bandages that were peeking out from underneath Anna's skirts and the bandage on her own arm, "has to stop, right?"

Anna's brow furrowed in seriousness as she nodded. "Mhm."

"I understand that this will be a very hard habit for us to break," the queen continued, "but I want us to work together to stop it."

Anna nodded again, burrowing further into her sister's side.

"Remember, if you ever feel tempted to do this again, just come to me, and we'll work it out together, okay?"

"Okay," the princess replied. "And you can come to me if you feel tempted, too, okay?"

"Okay. And Anna…"

The princess looked up at her sister.

The queen gave her a small, sad smile. "I love you."

Anna gave a sad smile in return. "I love you, too."

In the silence that followed, both the queen and princess were thinking the same thing: _It hurts me that she did this to herself… And_ I've _hurt_ her _by doing this to myself as well… I'm going to do my best to never do this to myself again… for her sake._

"Elsa?"

"Yes, Anna?"

"I want you to teach me how to do paperwork so that I can help you."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Okay, Mom, Dad, if you're reading this, I want you to know that I'm fine. Okay? I'm fine. Just because I write about characters being depressed and self-harming, that doesn't mean that I am depressed and/or self-harming. Okay? Okay.

If any of you, dear readers, have the… bad habit mentioned in this chapter… oh, boy, I could give a twenty page long speech about why you shouldn't hurt yourself, but if I did, we'd be here all day, and I know that sometimes a speech or a lecture doesn't really help. So I'm just going to try to keep this as short as I can, and say that if you are hurting yourself, please, stop. I will not sugar coat it, self-harm is self-mutilation. :-( If you won't stop for your own sake, then stop for the sakes of those who love you, because when you hurt yourself, you hurt them. It may sound like I'm guilt-tripping you, but I want you to take that guilt and instead of thinking, _I need to punish myself for hurting my loved ones in this way by hurting myself again,_ I want you to think, _What I'm doing to myself is hurting my loved ones. If it's hurting them, then I shouldn't do it._ I know that it's hard, and that habits aren't broken overnight, but practice makes perfect, and every instant of temptation successfully resisted is a victory. A step forward. Even if you stumble and give in to the temptation, pick yourself up and try again. And if you're looking around and thinking that no one cares, I just want you to know that you are wrong. There are people who care. Who? Well, God, for a start. Even if you don't believe in Him, He exists, and He loves you very, very, very much. And I care, too. :-) If I didn't care, then I wouldn't be writing this now. So if you're struggling with self-harm… please don't hurt yourself. If not for yourself, then for me... Please? *Hugs.* :'-(

It's Christmas time, and the reason we celebrate this holiday at all is because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born. He became flesh and blood because He loves us more than we could ever imagine. Our pain just broke and still breaks His heart, and all He wants to do is wipe away every tear, if we will let Him. No one can say that He doesn't know what we're going through, because He became flesh and blood and experience pain, too. Not a single one of our tears—yours or mine—has escaped His notice, and none ever will. He wants to take all our pain away, and He will if we will let Him into our hearts to do so.

So whether you are struggling with self-harm, or depression, or anxiety, or PTSD, or autism, or ADHD, or etc, or even if you're not, I want you to know that you are loved far more than you could ever imagine, even if you can't see it, and I want to wish you all a very blessed Christmas and happy New Year. :-)

Thank you all so much for reading this chapter (or at least as much as you could). Please leave a review in the box below and tell me what you thought (or if there are any mistakes I made since this chapter was a tad rushed). Your comments are the best gifts ever! :-)

God bless you and your Christmas!

Sincerely, The Professor.

Edit: I own the following OC's: Sir Alfred, Lt. Borg, Lt. Frisk, Themba, Sir and Lady Bergman, King Ingolf, King Stamfar, King Dustan Ulf II, Prince Varg, Prince Rudolf, and Prince Torulf. I know, I know, it's a lot of new people to introduce all at once. (Yes, haha, the name of one of the princes is Rudolf... "Rudolf the red nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose-" I know... it's hilarious.) XP


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